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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA. 



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The Sparrows. 



Page 7. 



TWELVE NOBLE MEN. 



BY 

Mrs. JULIA McNAIK WEIGHT. 



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1 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PKESBYTEKIAN BOAKD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 



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COPYRIGHT, 1 879, 

BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 



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Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotype™ and Electrotypen, Philada. 



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CONTENTS. 



i. 

PAGE 

One of God's Spabbows: The Stoby of Mabtin 

Booz 5 



II. 

The Innkeepeb's Son : The Stoby of Geobge White- 
field 29 

III. 

The Two Bbothebs: The Stoby of John and 

Chables Wesley 51 

IV. 

The Poob Man's Fbiend: The Stoby of William 

WlLBEBFOBCE , 73 

V. 

r 

The Pbisoneb's Fbiend: The Stoby of John How- 

ABD 95 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

VI. 

PAGE 

The Boy by the Arno: The Story op Girolamo 

Savonarola..,. „ 117 

VII. 

One of the Saints: The Story of Luigx de 

Sanctis 139 

VHIe 

A Happy Life : The Story of Frederick W. 

Krummacher 161 

IX. 

The Singer and Sailor: The Story of John 

Newton 183 

X. 

A True Hero: The Story of Koger Miller 205 

XI. 

The Sumatra Missionary: The Story of Henry 

Lyman 225 

XIL 

The Boy who would be Wise: The Story of 

Bev. Jonas King 249 



I. 

ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS: 
THE STORY OF MARTIN BOOZ. 



Twelve Noble Men. 



i. 
one of god's sparrows: 

THE STORY OF MARTIN BOOZ. 



ONCE, when Jesus was preaching, he said 
to the people, to encourage them to trust 
in God's care for them, " Are not five spar- 
rows sold for two farthings ? and not one of 
them is forgotten before God. Fear not, 
therefore, ye are of more value than many 
sparrows." 

I have a story to tell you of one who all 
his life was like a poor lonely, helpless spar- 
row, but God took care of him, and also 
made him a great blessing. This man was 
of more value than millions of sparrows, but 



8 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

he often learned a lesson from the wee chirp- 
ing birds. His name was Martin Booz, and 
he was born in Bavaria about a hundred 
years ago. When I tell you that Martin 
had fifteen brothers and sisters, you will 
say, " Oh, here is a whole family of little 
sparrows at once !" And, sure enough, the 
house was like a full nest of noisy young 
birds. Mr. Booz was a farmer; he had a 
small red house, green fields, green hedges, 
a barn, twenty cows and four horses. There 
were two children younger than Martin, and 
the eldest of all the family was a girl named 
Kate. She was eighteen, and a good sister. 
When Martin was five years old a terrible 
disease broke out in his neighborhood. First 
the babies of his family — two small boys — 
died; then Martin's mother; then two of 
his little sisters; then his father. Twelve 
orphan children were now left in the home 
of Mr. Booz ; they were God's sparrows, and 
he cared for them. The farm, the cows and 
the horses were sold, and the money was used 
in getting the boys and girls into good homes 
and schools. The eldest sister was going to 
be married, and $11 were provided for but 



MARTIN BOOZ. 9 

little Martin, What should be done with 
him ? Kate had a good thought. Her 
mother had a brother living in the city of 
Augsburg. He was a rich lawyer, and his 
name was Koegel. He had never seemed to 
care for his sister or her children. Kate 
said she meant to take Martin to him ; she 
was sure he would love such a cunning little 
fellow. One Monday morning, early in au- 
tumn, Kate rose up long before day, washed 
and dressed her little brother, making him 
look his best, then put some lunch of bread 
and cheese in her pocket, and set out to walk 
to Augsburg. 

Martin was a stout, hearty child, but he 
was very young, and of course he soon grew 
tired. When he was tired Kate took him on 
her back and trudged on. It was a long way 
to go, and by afternoon Martin was weary, 
cross and sleepy, and poor Kate felt as if 
she could hardly carry him any longer. She 
turned into a cornfield and sat down. She 
looked at Martin's red, cross face and said, 
" My lad, your uncle Koegel won't like your 
looks if he sees you in this state." She then 
made a bed of cornstalks, laid Martin in it, 



10 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS, 

sat by him until he fell asleep, and then, 
covering him with her shawl, prepared to 
walk the remaining two miles into Augsburg 
and see her uncle. She asked God to take 
care of her little brother when she left him 
thus alone. 

Poor Martin ! was he not now like a little 
lost bird, left alone in the cornfield ? Kate 
went to her uncle and told him all the fam- 
ily trouble. She explained how the twelve 
children had all been provided for except 
little Martin, and that she wanted Uncle 
Koegel to adopt him. 

" Very well," said her uncle. " There is 
no denying he is my sister's son, and I sup- 
pose I must take him, but I and my wife 
know little about children. I do not see 
what they are good for." 

" To make men and women," said Kate. 

" You may bring me the child. I cannot 
go to fetch him ; my time is worth money," 
said Counselor Koegel. 

" He will be here in two hours," said 
Kate. 

" Where, then, have you left him ?" asked 
he. 



MARTIN BOOZ. 11 

"Asleep in a cornfield," replied the sis- 
ter. 

Kate's heart was light, and she walked 
briskly to get her little brother. She knew 
that though her uncle was queer and cold he 
would not be unkind, but had means to pro- 
vide for Martin. 

The boy was pleasanter after his long nap. 
Kate washed his rosy cheeks, curled his yel- 
low hair, gave him a pretzel which she had 
bought in the city, and, taking him by the 
hand, soon led him into the presence of their 
uncle. 

"How did you fetch him?" asked Mr. 
Koegel. 

." On my back from home," said the sturdy 
Kate. 

" Thou art a brave girl," said he, smiling. 
" Stay a few days and I will give you a pres- 
ent." 

"Yes, stay," said his wife, "or the boy 
will be lonely. I cannot abide the crying 
of a child." 

Martin did not fancy staying at Augsburg. 
He cried to go back with his sister to his 
former home. Finding he could not be 



12 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

consoled, Kate rose early on the third day, 
and, leaving Martin asleep, set out for her 
old abode. 

When Martin found her gone he screamed 
and sobbed. 

"What is to be done with him?" asked 
his aunt at breakfast when he could not eat 
for crying. 

" He is too old for a nurse," said his uncle, 
uneasily. 

" Let us send him to school ; he will then 
be out of the way," said the aunt. 

"Very good," said his uncle. So, after 
breakfast, he took the child to an old school- 
master who taught children from eight in the 
morning until five at evening, giving them 
recess and an hour at noon to go home for 
dinner. Here Martin stayed year after year. 
His uncle and aunt provided him food and 
clothes and took him to church on Sundays, 
but never taught him anything, never even 
asked what he learned or how he got on : 
they scarcely knew if he had learned to 
read. 

One day, when Martin was eleven years 
old, he went to his uncle early in the morn- 



MARTIN BOOZ. 13 

ing, saying, " Please sir, it is quarter-day. 
Will you give me money to pay for my 
schooling ?" 

His uncle cried out roughly, "There it 
is ! school-money again ! Why, I've sent 
you to school this six years, and it is quite 
time I put you to learn a trade, where you 
could make your living. Pray, boy, what 
would you like to be?" 

Martin hung his head and said bashfully, 
" If you please, uncle, I would like to go to 
school and learn enough to be a clergyman. 
I do not like a trade." 

" You a clergyman !" cried his uncle loud- 
ly. " Why, you have neither money nor 
brains enough for that." 

Here was a sad rebuff for poor Martin, 
He went and sat on a stone bench behind 
the back door and cried bitterly. 

Pretty soon he heard his uncle calling: 
" Come, sir, come eat your breakfast, and 
then take a note from me to your school- 
master. I'll know the merits of your case 
soon." 

The note was to ask the master what sort 
of a boy Martin was in school. The answer 



14 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

was to be sent when Martin returned to din- 
ner. The old schoolmaster had ever been 
Martin's best friend ; he wrote very kindly 
to Mr. Koegel. He said that Martin was 
the best and smartest boy in school, that he 
was a very good Latin scholar, and that it 
would be a great sin to cut short the studies 
of a lad of such promise. 

Now, while Martin is taking home this 
note, let us see how God had thus far cared 
for his little sparrow. 

"When thy father and thy mother for- 
sake thee, then the Lord will take thee up," 
says Scripture. When Martin's father and 
mother had died God had raised up protect- 
ors for him : God had given him food, 
clothes and shelter for his body. God had 
also given him the schoolmaster as a friend 
to cheer his little lonely heart; and now, 
when Martin's mind was like a flower open- 
ing into beautiful blossom, we will see how 
God provided for that. 

When Mr. Koegel read the note he smiled ; 
he was so pleased to hear that Martin was a 
smart boy that he whistled half a tune ; then 
he said, " Latin, ho ! ho ! ho ! Latin, lad ; 



MARTIN BOOZ. 15 

why did thee not tell me of this Latin 
sooner ?" 

" I was afraid you would think me look- 
ing too high for a poor boy if I mentioned 
Latin." 

" Latin !" said Koegel, reading the note 
again. " ' Oh, and a smart boy is he, and a 
good boy/ Come now, lad, shake hands; 
you shall go to college and be a clergy- 
man." 

Martin's family were Roman Catholics. 
His uncle did not ask him if it was because 
he loved God, and desired to serve him and 
help men to be better, that he chose to be 
a clergyman. No ; he knew Martin only 
wished to be this that he might have a 
good house, money to live on and plenty 
of study. Martin and his uncle and his 
schoolmaster all thought these views right; 
they knew of no other. Mr. Koegel sent 
Martin to the college of the Jesuits of St. 
Salvador. He studied there five years. He 
was now nearly a young man, and was called 
a good scholar. He was about to study logic 
at the lyceum, and as it was vacation he went 
home to his uncle. 



16 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

The moment Mr. Koegel met Martin after 
his absence he cried, " Where have you been 
all this while ? I hope you are by this time 
a good scholar. Look you, Martin : I do not 
care about those Jesuits ; they do not make 
wise men of their pupils. To-morrow you 
are to start for the university at Dillingen ; 
so go back to-day to St. Salvador and get 
your diploma from those Jesuits, that the 
teachers at Dillingen may gladly receive 
you." 

Martin got a horse and rode back to col- 
lege to ask for his certificates of scholarship 
and good conduct, but the Jesuits would not 
give them to him. At Dillingen were some 
good, pious men among the teachers — one was 
named Sailer and another Zimmer — and many 
of their pupils were beginning' to read their 
Bibles and think for themselves. The Jes- 
uits hated this school. They were like men 
setting a trap to catch the soul of this poor 
sparrow. They said to him, "See here, 
Martin: Dillingen is a vile hole; you will 
get no good there. Stay here with us, and 
we will get you a place as private tutor, 
where you will be well paid and you can 



MARTIN BOOZ. 17 

study free of expense and have money in 
your pocket. Go tell your uncle that." 

The Jesuits were very cunning ; they knew 
Uncle Koegel was fond of money. But you 
know God says in his word that when his 
birds are caught in snares the snares shall 
be broken and the captives shall escape; 
and so it was in this case. The college of 
St. Salvador was on the edge of Augsburg, 
and Martin hurried back to his uncle to 
tell him what had been said by his teachers. 

Mr. Koegel was not won by the hint of 
his nephew earning money. He flew into a 
passion, crying, " That is just like the Jes- 
uits ! They hate all teachers but themselves. 
You are going to Dillingen ; and now go to 
the Jesuits and tell them if they don't give 
you your certificates I will find a way to 
make them." 

The teachers were afraid of Counselor 
Koegel, and gave Martin his papers. 

Martin went to Dillingen, a town in Ba- 
varia, thinking, from what he had heard, that 
it would be a very bad place ; but he learned 
to love his good professors there, and was very 
happy. His teachers were so pleased with his 



18 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

good conduct, polite, gentle manners and stu- 
dious habits that they wrote to Mr. Koegel 
praising Martin highly. Mr. Koegel be- 
came kinder to his nephew when every one 
spoke well of him. 

For four years Martin studied at Dillin- 
gen ; he was now twenty years of age, had 
concluded his preparatory studies, and was 
ready to be made a priest. Martin had al- 
ways been called a good lad. He had no 
knowledge of Jesus as a Saviour nor of 
himself as a great sinner ; he thought him- 
self a right good fellow, quite fit to be a 
priest, and, like the young man in the Bible, 
would have said, "What lack I yet?" His 
uncle thought of him in the same way. 

Mr. Koegel was very anxious to have his 
nephew ordained a priest. Martin had been 
ill of a fever, and was afraid of failing in his 
examination, but he went to Augsburg with 
other young men, and passed with such credit 
that every one spoke well of him, and his own 
joy and pride were great. He was now made 
a priest, and was allowed to celebrate mass in 
a grand old church at Augsburg. His uncle 
was there, and more than five hundred peo- 



MARTIN BOOZ. 19 

pie and thirty priests, who came to please the 
old counselor. Mr. Koegel was so proud and 
happy on account of his nephew's success that 
he did what we would call a very odd thing. 
He gave a party which lasted three days ! 
Martin went to it, and liked it very greatly. 

Martin studied some little while longer, and 
then got a place as preacher in a large town. 
The name of the town is so long that I would 
not like to bother little folks with it. The 
good teaching Martin Booz had had at Dil- 
lingen had made him willing to think. He 
was no idle trifler, and when he found him- 
self preaching to poor ignorant souls every 
Sabbath, he began to wonder what he should 
say and do to make them live well and die 
happy. 

I have shown you how God had cared for 
Martin's body and for his mind, and now I 
will tell you how he cared for his soul. 

When Martin began to think about the 
state of his people he concluded that the 
best he could do would be to become a very 
holy man and live a most pious life before 
them. He did not know that only God can 
make a man holy, and that a holy life begins 



20 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

in a new heart — a heart washed in the blood 
of the Lord Jesus. 

Martin Booz thought that the way to be 
holy was to fast often, to pray often, to give 
much to the poor, and to do whatever things 
were most disagreeable to himself. He was 
trying to find out his own way to heaven. 

Martin was so earnest in his efforts to be 
very holy that people became interested in 
him, and, as they none of them knew more 
about true religion than he did, they believed 
he was a wonderful saint. He stayed in the 
church and burying-ground a great deal, and 
gave his own food to the poor. He was not 
pretending ; he was really trying to be good. 
For this kind of goodness he was made head 
of a convent of Jesuits. This was a high 
honor, but it did not make him happy. He 
was called a holy man, but, as he said after- 
ward, his goodness was all a form ; he was 
afraid to die ; he was full of care and sor- 
row; his soul had no rest; he was always 
crying, "What shall I do?" 

Martin was so much liked by everybody 
who lived in the town that his brother-monks 
in the convent got jealous of him. They were 



MARTIN BOOZ. 21 

not good men, and they hated him very much. 
They read his letters, tore his books, inter- 
rupted his prayers, called him ill names 
and talked unkindly of him. He was very 
wretched, and finally a good bishop who was 
his friend asked him if he would like to go to 
a little country church and be its priest. 

" Oh yes, yes," said Martin eagerly. 

" It would not be half so honorable as 
the place you have in the convent," said his 
friend. 

" I do not mind that," said Martin, " if I 
may only have peace. My heart will break 
if I quarrel." 

So Martin Booz went to the little poor 
church and began to teach the people as 
well as he could, but as yet he knew very 
little that was of real value. He was what 
the Bible calls " a blind leader of the blind." 
He was very good to the sick and poor, often 
visiting them. The Bible says, "He that 
waters shall be watered also himself," and 
you will now see how this was true in Mar- 
tin's case. 

One day he went to see a poor sick woman 
who was about to die ; he tried to cheer her, 



22 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

and said, " You will die very well and hap- 

piiy-" 

"Why so?" asked the poor dying woman 
calmly. 

" Because you have lived so well," replied 
Booz. " Every one calls you a very good 
woman, and says you have led a pious and 
holy life. Of course you will die well." 

The sick woman smiled, and then said 
earnestly, " Mr. Booz, if I go out of this 
world trusting to my own merits to save 
me, I shall be lost. But I have a Saviour ; 
Jesus died for me, and so I can die happy. 
Oh, sir, a clergyman like you ought to be 
able to tell the dying about Christ and his 
blood, which washes away sin. If I only 
knew what you can tell me, how miserable 
I would be ! How could I stand before 
God and answer for all my idle words? 
How could I find in my life one truly good 
and holy act? If Christ had not died for 
me, I would be lost, sir. If I have lived a 
Christian life, I have only lived it by his 
grace. Jesus is my hope ; he saves me ; he 
will make me happy in heaven ; in him I 
am happy now as I am dying." 



MARTIN BOOZ. 23 

Martin had come to this house to teach and 
to comfort ; he found himself taught by this 
woman, who had learned the truth of God. 
Booz was not proud ; he did not scorn the 
poor sick woman's words. On the contrary, 
he believed them. He said, " Here is what I 
have looked for ; here is true faith. I will 
seek for Jesus as my Saviour; where shall 
I find him?" He asked this of the poor 
woman. 

"You will find him in his book, the 
Bible," said she. 

God says he will not suffer a proud heart, 
but he loves to dwell with a lowly spirit. 
Martin meekly took the poor dying woman 
for his teacher, and, as she had told him to 
study the Bible, he sought for one as soon 
as he got home. Now he was truly happy. 
He did not now carry the burden of his 
sins; he had laid them all on the dear 
Saviour. Now he could point men to the 
way of life ; he no more bade them save 
themselves by fasts and alms, but he told 
them of the Lamb of God, who had paid 
all their debt. This was such new teaching 
in Austria, where Martin labored, that people 



24 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

flocked from all sides to hear it. In our 
country this good news is preached by thou- 
sands of ministers every week, but in Aus- 
tria, especially in Martin's time, people dared 
not tell of salvation by Christ alone. As 
soon as Booz began to preach in this way 
the priests hated him, and did all they could 
against him. They did not dare to kill him, 
as they did holy men long ago, which I told 
you of in the lives of Huss and Wishart ; but 
they drove Martin out of his home, took away 
his church and put him in prison. 

I will tell you one little story to show how 
kind Martin was, and how God took care of 
him. Before Martin was driven from his 
home he buried a man and a woman who 
left an only child, a poor orphan boy. This 
boy stood crying by his parents' grave. 
Booz took him in his arms and comforted 
him, gave him the only shilling he had in 
the world, and led him to a house where 
some kind people let the forlorn child stay ; 
and every day after that Booz took the boy 
and taught him to read and to serve God. 
By and by the boy was taken away by his 
relatives. He grew up to be a rich man, 



MARTIN BOOZ. 25 

and was a colonel in the Austrian army. 
This was when Booz was old, poor and a 
prisoner. The officer found Booz in great 
misery, and though he could not take him 
out of prison, he visited him every day and 
brought everything he could find to make 
him more comfortable. If Booz said his 
friend was doing too much for him, the 
colonel would reply, " Oh no ; you gave me 
your last shilling when I was a poor orphan 
boy; you loved me and taught me; and I 
like nothing better than to help you." This 
is what the Bible means when it says, " Cast 
thy bread on the waters, and thou shalt find 
it after many days." 

Booz was in several prisons. He was sit- 
ting in one bv the little window of his cell 
one day ; he was lonely and hungry ; he 
wanted to write and to read, but his cruel 
foes would not give him books, paper or pens. 
As he sat there he saw a string drop down 
before his window. After a while he took 
hold of it. Then some one from the roof 
above dropped him a roasted turkey tied to 
the string. Inside the turkey he found let- 
ters, a Testament, paper, a pen and a little 



26 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

bottle of ink. Don't you think that was very 
queer stuffing for a turkey ? 

He wrote letters to his friends, but did not 
know how to send them. His jailers would 
take them away if they knew of them. 
Each day some one walked in the hall by 
his cell and softly sang a line of Luther's 
hymn, " A strong tower is our God." Mar- 
tin knew that was a friend looking for letters. 
He looked on the floor and saw a little mouse 
running out by a hole he had gnawed under 
the door. "Very good," said Booz; and, 
rolling his letter up small, he pushed it out 
after the mouse, and the singing friend got 
it. Soon there was an answer sent the same 
way. How odd ! This was the mouse-hole 
post-office, wasn't it ? 

Thus you see how God cared for Martin's 
soul, and sent him knowledge of Jesus by the 
mouth of the poor woman ; and when Martin 
got put in prison for Christ's sake, God cared 
for him still, and sent him friends and help 
one way and another. 

After a long while and after many troubles 
Booz was let out of prison and got a little 
church at Sayn. The night he left prison 



MARTIN BOOZ. 27 

some friends met in a house to welcome him. 
He went there, but was so pale and thin that 
they did not recognize him until he said, 
" What ! don't you know me ?" Then how 
they crowded about him ! 

Martin Booz did much good work at Sayn. 
He was getting old and feeble, and as he 
lived alone some of his distant friends said, 
"What will become of him? He may be 
ill and die all alone." " Oh," said Martin, 
" I am God's sparrow, and he will take care 
of me, just as he always has done." 

Sure enough, it was so. One day Martin 
sat in an arbor by himself. He was very 
weak, and felt sad. A young man with a 
traveling-bag in his hand entered the gate. 
He had come a long way ; he had heard of 
good Martin Booz, and God had put it in his 
heart to come and live with him and take 
care of him. 

The young man said to Martin, " I will be 
your son ; I will help you teach your people. 
I will nurse you when you are sick, and I 
will read to you when you are blind." 

Did not God take good care of Martin 
Booz? 



28 ONE OF GOD'S SPARROWS. 

The young man stayed there as long as 
Booz lived. Martin died very happily ; he 
had no fear and no pain. His last words 
were, " Lord, into thy hands I commend my 
spirit." Then he went home to heaven. Is 
it not a happy lot to be one of God's spar- 
rows? 



II. 
THE INNKEEPER'S SON: 

THE STORY OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 



II. 
THE IMKEEPER'S SON: 

THE STORY OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 



ALMOST every boy thinks he would like 
to be famous, even those boys who are 
too lazy to do anything to earn fame. Fame 
does not grow out of the ground without 
trouble, like a thistle or a mullein-stalk ; it 
is rather like wheat or peaches, which must 
be carefully cultivated and toiled for. One 
boy says he would like to be famous as a 
soldier ; another thinks he would like to be 
famous for wit; another for learning; an- 
other for riches and grand style of living ; 
but the best of all is to be famous for doing 
good. 

I shall tell you now of a boy who became 
very famous as a preacher. He did a great 

31 



32 THE INNKEEPER'S SON 

deal of good. He did not do good because 
lie wanted to make a name by it, but be- 
cause he loved God and desired to serve 
him. This boy's name was George. His 
father's name was Whitefield, and he kept 
a tavern. George had five brothers, all 
older than himself. 

His troubles and the troubles of his fam- 
ily seemed to begin as soon as George was 
born. While he was a small baby his mo- 
ther was very ill for some months. As she 
lay in her bed, with little George in his cradle 
at her side, she would look at him for hours 
and pray for him a great deal. It seemed 
to be in her mind even then that this child 
would grow up to be a great comfort to her. 
She was a pious woman, and hoped her son 
would give his heart early to God. 

When George was but two years old his 
father died. Mrs. Whitefield, after her hus- 
band's death, kept the tavern herself and 
tried to make a living for her six sons. She 
had hard work. She was very busy all day, 
and to get George out of her way and out of 
mischief she sent him early to a dame's school. 
George was a lively little lad, and he hated to 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 33 

go to school and study ; he had rather be out 
of doors hunting birds' nests and making 
dams in the gutters. Very likely, the dame 
did not understand teaching very well. One 
day a good minister stopped at Mrs. White- 
field's house. Some children were playing 
in the yard with George. They were Scotch 
and Irish, and the minister asked them sev- 
eral questions ; by and by he asked George 
where he was born. 

"In an inn," said George smartly. 

" So was the dear Lord Jesus," said the 
stranger. 

This impressed George very much. The 
minister was so kind that the boy after tea 
went to talk with him, and heard the whole 
story of Jesus, who was born in the stable 
of an inn and laid in a manger. 

After this George always showed a great 
love for ministers, and if any of them were 
in the house he liked to stand near them 
and listen to their talk. He also loved to 
^•p to church, and instead of sleeping or 
playing during the sermon he listened with 
all his might. 

One Sunday evening, when George and 

3 



34 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

his mother were sitting quietly together, she 
told him how she had prayed for him, and 
that she expected him to be a great help 
and comfort to her, even more than any of 
his brothers. 

George loved his mother, and he never 
forgot these words. If he was tempted to 
do anything very wicked he would say to 
himself, " I must not ; this is no way to grow 
up to be my mother's comfort." 

Still, during these days, though there were 
some very nice things about George, he was 
not a Christian boy. He had not true love 
for God in his heart, and often did things 
which he knew to be wrong and neglected 
things which he ought to do. George was 
wasteful of his money, idle about his studies, 
fond of tricks which troubled other people, 
and would read books which he should not 
have looked into. Thus he grew up in the 
noble old city of Gloucester, at the Bell Inn, 
until he was ten years old. At this time Mrs. 
Whitefield married again, and, unfortunately, 
she married a bad man, who made trouble in 
her family, neglected her business and wasted 
her money. She still managed to keep George 



GEORGE WHITEF1ELD. 35 

at school, but several of his brothers, having 
grown up, left home to learn trades and take 
care of themselves. At school George loved 
to learn pieces to speak, and as he did it well 
his masters were pleased to hear him. He 
was not now at the dame's school, but at the 
grammar school of St. Mary de Crypt. This 
was quite a famous place, and often visited by 
the city magistrates and people from a dis- 
tance, and George was often called on to 
make speeches to them. He did this so 
well and gracefully that they often made 
him presents of money. Too much pocket- 
money is a temptation to boys, and George 
fell in with bad company which did him 
much harm. He stopped at this school 
until he was sixteen. 

At this time all his brothers were gone 
from home, his step-father was idle and his 
poor mother's business was in a very bad 
state ; her inn was badly kept, and she 
could hardly pay her debts and get any 
clothes. George pitied his mother and 
longed to help her. He told her he knew 
quite enough to leave school and get a place 
where he could earn money. He tried very 



36 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

hard to do this, but could find no work. He 
then determined to remain at home and help 
his mother in the inn. She felt very sad 
at this, for she wanted George to be a fine 
scholar. However, there seemed no help 
for it, so George got a leathern apron, hung 
a pair of snuffers for trimming candles at 
his belt, and became in all things like the 
hired boy they call a drawer in English 
taverns. He washed mops, scrubbed floors 
and windows, cleaned candlesticks, served 
out beer, waited at table, ran errands and 
watered horses. This he did for a year and 
a half. During this time he read everything 
he could get hold of; when ministers were at 
the house he hung about the room where they 
sat ; he went to preaching as often as he could, 
and began to amuse himself by writing ser- 
mons. One of these, which he thought very 
fine, he presented to his oldest brother, who 
was married and living in Bristol. He liked 
to read prayers from the prayer-book as the 
ministers did, trying to see how well he could 
make them sound, and he was now very sorry 
that he had not made a better use of his time 
in school. 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 37 

He at this time found a friend in a very 
pious youth, who urged him to study his 
Bible and to go to Oxford College to learn 
to be a minister. George would always say, 
"I wish I could." His mother often heard 
this talk as her son was doing his work in 
the tavern, and she wished with all her heart 
that her boy could go to Oxford. But how 
could he go without money? 

He began to read the Bible at his friend's 
request, and liked it so much that he studied 
it when he was sitting up at night waiting for 
guests or for men to finish their drinking and 
leave the tap-room. 

His mother's difficulties became so great, 
in spite of George's help, that she sold out 
her business to one of her grown-up sons 
and took part of a little house for herself. 
George stopped with his brother as drawer 
for a few weeks, but they did not get on 
well together, so he went to his oldest broth- 
er at Bristol to look for work. Work was 
scarce, and in a month George went back 
to his mother. In all this time God was 
leading George, but he did not know it. 
One day, while George was thus living 



38 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

without work at his mother's and wonder- 
ing what he should do, a young man who 
had sometimes lodged at the Bell Inn came 
to call on her. This young man was what 
is called a servitor in Oxford at the college. 
He worked for his board and his tuition, and 
managed to earn enough from the rich stu- 
dents to buy his clothes. 

" How do you come on ?" asked George's 
mother. 

" Pretty well," said the young man. " I 
get my education, and that is something to 
be thankful for." 

" Indeed it is," said she ; " I wish my 
George could do the same." 

" This last term, when I got through," he 
said, " I paid all I owed, and had clothes for 
vacation on hand. I had just one penny 
remaining in my purse." 

" Why, this will do for my son," cried the 
mother ; and turning to George, who stood 
by, she said, " My son, will you go to Oxford 
as a servitor and be educated ?" 

" With all my heart, mother," said George 
eagerly. 

George at once went back to the grammar 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 39 

school, and studied so well that when he was 
eighteen he went to college and became a 
servitor. 

He found many of the students so wicked 
that he was afraid of them, and for the most 
part of his time he shut himself in his room 
and worked at his books as hard as he could. 
But at this college were some young men dif- 
ferent from all the rest ; they led pious lives 
and said their chief desire was to serve God. 
The leaders of this party were two brothers 
named Wesley, about whom I shall write my 
next story. How much George longed to 
know these young men ! But he was very 
poor, and they were pretty rich, and he 
thought that they would be ashamed of his 
company. He did not know that truly pious 
people have none of these silly notions, but 
feel that all who love the dear Saviour be- 
come brothers in him. The Bible says, 
" The rich and poor meet together, and the 
Lord is the Maker of them all." This is 
to teach us not to be proud and scornful. 
The Bible also says, "All ye are brethren." 
Brothers, you know, ought to love and help 
each other. 



40 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

A whole year went by, during which George 
watched the Wesleys afar off. At length one 
day he went to visit a poor woman who was 
in great sorrow — so great that she had even 
tried to kill herself. George advised her to 
send for Mr. Charles Wesley to pray with 
her. 

Wesley had often noticed George walking 
by himself, and he made up his mind to get 
acquainted with him. He wrote George a 
note saying that he had called on the poor 
woman, and asking George to come the next 
morning and take breakfast with him. Af- 
ter that they were dear friends. 

George was now anxious to serve God and 
deeply sorry for all his sins, but he did not 
see how ready Jesus is to forgive us and 
wash away our guilt. His trouble of mind 
made him sick, and he lay in bed burning 
with fever. No one was with him, and he 
wanted a drink very much, and could not 
get it. This made him think of the good 
Jesus on the cross when he said, " I thirst." 
His mind turned to the sufferings and death 
of Christ. " If he died for me/' said George, 
" he is surely quite willing to save me. Why 



GEORGE WH1TEFIELD. 41 

may I not now trust my soul to him and be 
happy at once?" He felt that he might. 
He cried out that dear little prayer, " Lord, 
I believe; help thou my unbelief!" How 
happy was George now that he had found a 
Saviour indeed ! It almost made him well 
of his fever. George now loved nothing so 
much as to tell people of Jesus. He spent 
his time when he was not studying in visiting 
poor people, prisons and hospitals. Some of 
his friends wanted him to begin to preach at 
once, but he said, " No, I mean to have a 
hundred and fifty sermons ready first." This 
was trusting to his sermons more than to God, 
and you shall see how the Lord taught him 
better than that. 

He was not very well, and he went home 
to see his mother. A clergyman came to 
urge him to preach, but George said, " Oh 
no ; I cannot do well enough ; I am too 
ignorant. I will lend you a sermon to 
show you how badly I write and preach 

yet." 

The minister took the sermon, and in two 
weeks came back saying, " This is a very good 
sermon. I preached it to my people, and 



42 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

they liked it very much. There are five 
dollars for my use of it." 

That was a queer way to do. Ministers 
write their own sermons now-a-days. 

George wrote and talked so much about 
religion that people said he was crazy. 
Wicked people often call those crazy who 
love God. They did so hundreds of years 
ago, when Paul was living and preaching. 

When George was twenty-one years old 
he was so well known for wisdom and piety 
that his friends begged him to delay no 
longer, but to begin preaching at once. 
Whitefield prayed to God, saying, like 
Moses when God called to him from the 
bush, " Lord, I cannot go ; I am too weak, 
too young ; no one will hear me. I shall 
be proud and foolish, and do more harm 
than good." But God was able to preserve 
his soul. Still Whitefield prayed, "Lord, 
do not send me yet." But the words came 
into his mind, " Nothing shall pluck you 
out of my hands." Then he felt that God 
was able and willing to help him, and he 
consented to be ordained. He says that 
when he went up to be ordained before all 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 43 

the people in the great church he could only 
think of the little boy Samuel standing in 
the tabernacle wearing his linen ephod, and 
in his heart he prayed God to help him to 
live only for his glory and the good of 
souls. 

When he preached his first sermon he 
spoke with so much fervor and power that 
people wept, and some bad men went to the 
bishop, saying, " This fellow Whitefield has 
driven fifteen folks mad with his first ser- 
mon." 

" I hope," said the bishop, " that these 
fifteen will not get over what you call their 
' madness ' before next Sunday." 

This Bishop Benson was a very good 
man ; he was Whitefield's true friend, and 
often helped him. 

From the very beginning of his ministry 
George Whitefield was a great preacher. 
God had given him grand gifts to use in 
his service. He had a wonderful voice, a 
beautiful face, a warm heart, a great love of 
souls and plenty of earnest words to tell of 
Jesus and his grace. People said he was like 
the angel John tells us of in Revelation, fly- 



44 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

ing between heaven and earth bearing the 
everlasting gospel to preach to men. All 
Whitefield cared for was to serve God ; in 
this work he never seemed to grow tired, to 
think of himself or to have any vanity. He 
used to say, " Let my name and memory per- 
ish ; I do not care for that. All I want is 
to have God glorified and sinners saved." 

When a proud man said to him, " Do you 
believe we shall see that Methodist Wesley 
in heaven?" George replied very meekly, 
" No ; I suppose he will be so much higher 
and nearer God than we are that he will be 
clear out of our sight." You see, he was 
meek, and Christ says, " Blessed are the 
meek." 

George Whitefield was indeed blessed — in 
his life, his work, his contented heart and his 
happy death. From the first of his preach- 
ing Whitefield met with very wonderful suc- 
cess. Crowds came to listen to him until no 
building could hold them. As he was anx- 
ious to do all the good possible, he began to 
speak in the open air. He would choose 
some balcony, high platform or window, 
and speak from that ; and his voice was 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 45 

so strong that he could make thousands 
hear him. Before long he was invited to 
visit America ; John Wesley wrote for him 
to come and preach in Georgia. He wrote : 
" Do you ask me what you shall have ? Food 
to eat, raiment to put on, a house to lay your 
head in — -such as our Lord had not — and a 
crown of glory which fadeth not away." 
Some people would not have been satisfied 
without the promise of money and honor, 
but George Whitefield says his "heart 
leaped up in him " to get so grand a chance 
of doing good. He first came to our coun- 
try in 1737. His first home was at Savan- 
nah, Georgia. On the voyage here he did 
all he could to teach the people on board his 
ship, and he did them much good. Finding 
a newspaper one day on the captain's pillow, 
he laid in its place a little tract, which was 
the means of this captain's becoming a pious 
man. He was asked while on the ship to 
marry a couple ; while he was doing so the 
young man began to laugh and act silly. 
Whitefield stopped the marriage service and 
talked to him so very solemnly about his 
duty that presently the man and all those 



46 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

near began to weep. The men on shipboard 
said Mr. Whitefield taught them nothing but 
good, and could make a text out of every- 
thing that happened. 

Whitefield went from this country to Eng- 
land and back again a number of times. He 
was dearly loved everywhere, but in England 
there was a deal of fault found because he 
preached out of doors and in other places 
than churches. He was often called crazy 
and a fanatic, but he did not mind ridicule 
or unkindness ; all he cared for was to please 
the Lord. He preached very often in Phila- 
delphia ; one of his favorite places for service 
was the balcony in front of the old court- 
house. There is an old church in Freehold, 
New Jersey, where he loved to preach ; it is 
called the Tennent Church. In Philadelphia, 
Mr. Whitefield preached sometimes to as many 
as fifteen thousand people at once. Can you 
imagine such a crowd as that ? We are told 
that during a year that he stayed in Phila- 
delphia there was preaching twice every day 
and three or four times on Sunday. Who 
can tell me how many sermons that would 
be in the year? 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 47 

I cannot tell you all about a long life spent 
in doing good — in building churches, colleges 
and orphan asylums. Our country owes a 
great deal to George Whitefield, the son of 
the keeper of the Bell Inn, Gloucester. 

I shall tell you two or three things which 
happened in his preaching, and then see if 
you do not think you would love to hear 
such a preacher. 

One day he was preaching to some sailors. 
He talked to them about their lives as if 
life was a voyage ; he said : " Well, my boys, 
we have a fine sky, we go swiftly over a 
smooth sea, and we shall soon lose sight of 
land. But what means this sudden darkness 
and that black cloud on the western sky ? 
Hark ! don't you hear the thunder ? Look ! 
don't you see the lightning? There is a 
storm coming. Every man to his place ! 
How the big waves dash against our ship ! 
The air is dark, the storm is high. Our 
masts are gone ! What next ?" 

The sailors had got so interested that they 
seemed to see all this, and all together they 
leaped up and shouted out, " Take to the 
long-boats, sir!" 



48 THE INNKEEPER'S SON 

Once, when Mr. Whitefield was preaching 
in Boston, in the middle of the sermon a ter- 
rible thunderstorm arose. It grew very dark, 
the thunder pealed, the lightning blazed over 
all the sky. People were greatly terrified ; 
some cried out, some sobbed, some fainted. 
Mr. Whitefield stepped to one side of the 
pulpit, stretched out his arms and repeated 
in a clear voice this beautiful hymn : 

" Hark ! the Eternal rends the sky ! 
A mighty voice before him goes— 
A voice of music to his friends, 

But threatening thunder to his foes : 
' Come, children, to your Father's arms, 

Hide in the shelter of my grace, 

Till the fierce storm be overblown, 

And my revenging fury cease.' " 

I hope my readers will learn this hymn. 
Mr. Whitefield had the people sing it, and 
by the time they finished the storm was over 
and all their hearts were impressed with a 
sense of God's great power and mercy. 

At another time Mr. Whitefield was preach- 
ing out of doors at Baskingridge, New Jersey. 
Very many people wept on account of their 
sins; one little boy had his heart so touched 
that he cried aloud. Mr. Whitefield was 



GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 49 

standing in a wagon, and this child sat on 
the back seat. He lifted him up beside him, 
saying, " Friends, I will let this little seven- 
year-old boy preach for me. If such a child 
must cry and wail because he is a sinner, what 
must you do who have for years gone on in 
sin and despised the grace of God?" God 
blessed these words very greatly. 

Once, in Wales, Mr. Whitefield was preach- 
ing at the edge of some woods. He was stand- 
ing on a stump, and had a great crowd before 
him. Some bad people had come with stones 
and clubs, and threatened to kill him. They 
swore and called names. Mr. Whitefield was 
brave at first, but at last the men were so wild 
that he began to get a little afraid. His wife 
stood near him, and she pulled his coat. Did 
she tell him to run and hide ? Oh no ! Brave 
woman that she was, she said, " George, play 
the man for your God !" His courage re- 
turned, he spoke bravely, put the evil men 
to shame, and many people were converted. 

Mr. Whitefield loved children ; I think 
all good people do. They wrote him letters 
and liked to visit him, and he loved to teach 
them and pray for them. 



50 THE INNKEEPER'S SON. 

Mr. Whitefield came to America seven 
times. He died in this country when he 
was fifty-six years old. He died quite sud- 
denly, but he had lived near to God and was 
ready to go to him in heaven. He was bur- 
ied in the Old South Church at Newbury- 
port, Massachusetts. He died at the house 
of the pastor of this church, who was his 
dear friend. He had been a minister for 
thirty-four years, and who can count the 
souls saved by his means ? Was not his a 
grand life to live? What is better than 
thus, like Jesus, to go about doing good? 
We can only do this when we have first 
gone to Jesus and got new hearts, washed 
in his blood and full of his love. 



III. 

THE TWO BROTHERS: 

THE STORY OF JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 



III. 

THE TWO BROTHERS : 

THE STORY OF JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 



WHEN children read of great and good 
people, I think they like best to know 
what these people felt and did when they 
were children. In this story of two brothers 
my little friends will enjoy hearing where 
and how the brothers lived when they were 
small boys. John and Charles were the 
youngest sons of Mr. Samuel Wesley, who 
was a minister in the village of Epworth in 
England. Mr. Wesley and his wife were 
very kind and pious people. They were 
quite poor, and there were so many children 
in the family that it was very hard to get 
food and clothes for them all. In those 
days people treated their ministers very 

53 



54 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

meanly ; they are not free from that fault 
now, but things are not so bad as they were. 
What will you think when I tell you that 
poor Mr. Wesley had to borrow money for 
fuel and to pay the doctor, and then was 
put in jail because he had not the money to 
pay back what he borrowed just when his 
creditor wanted it? The house where they 
lived was twice burned down, and each time 
Mr. Wesley had to build it at his own ex- 
pense, though it belonged to the church, 
and not to him. If he had not rebuilt it 
he would have had no home, and then what 
would have become of all those little chil- 
dren ? 

The eldest son of the Wesleys was named 
Samuel, and he was a wise and good boy ; he 
was sixteen years old when Charles was born, 
and John was then five. The house had al- 
ready been once burned down, and it had cost 
so much to rebuild it that money was very 
scarce. The first wish of the parents was 
to have their children love God ; the next 
object was to have them well educated. They 
said, " We are so poor we can never leave our 
children any money, but let us give them 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 55 

good educations, and they will always be 
able to take care of themselves. Wisdom 
is better than rubies." 

Mrs. Wesley believed that people should 
begin to teach their children when they are 
little babies. I wish all mothers thought 
this; we should not then see so many 
naughty children. You say, "What can 
you teach a baby?" Why, you can teach 
it good habits ; you can teach it to eat and 
sleep at a regular time, and not to scream 
after things. Mrs. Wesley never gave her 
children things that they cried after for the 
sake of keeping them still. 

She loved her children, and tried to make 
them happy. Some of her rules were these : 
To teach her children to cry softly. What 
a pity all children do not learn that ! Then 
we should have no roaring as if a leg was 
broken — all for what ? Why, because some 
little body cannot get a gate open or has 
lost his ball. Another rule was that they 
must mind the first time they were spoken 
to. That is a good rule. Why not the 
first time as well as the sixth ? To honor 
your parents is to mind quickly and cheer- 



56 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

fully. Children who begin by obeying 
their parents will go on by obeying God. 
Mrs. Wesley also taught her children, even 
the very wee ones, to be quiet at prayer- 
time ; also to know Sunday from other 
days, and keep it, in their baby fashion, as 
a day quieter and better than the rest. 
When her little children went to church 
they sat still, paid attention, and when they 
came home were able to tell something that 
they had heard. 

Then these children were taught to eat 
what was given them at table, and not fret 
and quarrel with their food ; they were not 
allowed to run about eating cake or pie be- 
tween meals; therefore, when they came to 
the table they were ready to eat plain, good 
food. Having learned how to eat what was 
given them, they also knew how to take 
medicine without a fuss when it was need- 
ful ; but these little boys and girls were not 
often ill. They were expected to be gentle 
and unselfish to each other, and to speak 
civilly to the servants. 

By keeping these rules they were a happy 
family. For all there were so many of them, 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 57 

the sound of crying and quarreling was never 
heard in the house. People said that in all 
England there were no better brought-up 
children than Mrs. Wesley's. Their mother 
writes of them : " Never were children in 
better order ; never were children better dis- 
posed to piety." Quarreling, lying or bad 
language was never heard among them. 

The mother taught her girls entirely her- 
self, and her boys until they were old enough 
to go off to a grammar school. After the al- 
phabet-card the Bible was their first lesson 
book ; in it they learned to read and spell. 
They were all bright children ; the mother 
says that Samuel was the smartest, and Kez- 
zy was the dullest. When set to learn a les- 
son they were not to leave it until it was 
perfect. In their little school-room at home, 
where their mother was the teacher, they kept 
the order they must have observed in a large 
school. 

Once each week this good mother talked 
privately with each child about its soul and 
the way to get a new heart. 

Thus in this home matters went on very 
pleasantly until John was six years old and 



58 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

Charles was a small baby. Samuel was off 
at college. One night there was a cry of 
fire ; the house was in flames ; nothing could 
save it. So many little children were to be 
got out ; how do you think they saved them 
all ? Poor John was very nearly burned to 
death, but at last he was got out unhurt just 
before the floor of his room fell through. 
Dear me ! what a time ! And worst of all 
was, that their furniture and nearly all their 
clothes were gone, and now they had no 
house to go to ; they were without a home. 
There was no help for it ; they must scatter 
about as they could until the poor father 
built his house again. Where money is 
scarce it takes a long time to do anything. 
The father and mother and babies went to 
one place — the children here, there and 
everywhere. It was a whole year after this 
dreadful fire before the Wesley family were 
together again. Thirteen years after their 
mother, in a letter to her brother, said : " Mr. 
Wesley built his house in a year, but so poor 
are we that to this day it is not half furnish- 
ed nor are any of us half well clad." Once, 
when a friend asked Mrs. Wesley if her fam- 




A brand from the burniii 



S- 



Page 58. 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 59 

ily had ever been without food, she replied, 
" No, I do not think that we were ever really 
hungry, but we often found it such hard work 
to get and pay for the plainest food that to 
me it was about as hard as going without." 
When the children were once more togeth- 
er their mother found great cause for grief. 
While they had been scattered from their 
parents they had been with improper com- 
pany ; had learned in many ways to neglect 
the Sabbath ; had run too much in the streets ; 
had read books and learned songs of a kind 
which their mother did not approve; and 
had begun to speak rudely and coarsely. 
Now, very much of this careful mother's 
work was to be done over again. Her heart 
ached, but she kept her courage up. She 
called her children about her and talked se- 
riously with them of her troubles. She had 
them help her make a set of laws for the rule 
of the family, and these she wrote out plain- 
ly and hung up where all could see them. 
Some of these laws were — that if a child 
confessed a fault frankly it should not be 
punished for it ; if a child gave away any- 
thing he could not take it back; no one must 



60 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

meddle with anything belonging to another 
without the consent of the owner ; when any 
one did right, especially if it was in some- 
thing hard for him, he was to be praised; 
if he did wrong while trying to do right, he 
must not be ridiculed or scolded, but must 
be gently taught how to do better ; no child 
was to be scolded or punished twice for the 
same act. 

Besides these excellent rules, Mrs. Wesley 
gave yet more time than formerly to religious 
teaching. She began and closed school each 
day by singing a psalm. Her children were 
all fond of music, and also of writing little 
poems ; they loved hymn-singing very much. 
Each morning the children read their Bibles 
and prayed by themselves before breakfast. 
At five in the afternoon, when they had fin- 
ished their studies, the oldest child at home 
took the youngest child, the next oldest the 
next youngest, and so on, two by two, and 
each pair went to some quiet place, and the 
elder read a psalm and also a chapter from 
the New Testament to the other one. They 
were not to hurry or trifle during this ex- 
ercise. By all these measures the faithful 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 61 

parents tried to break up bad habits and im- 
plant right principles in their family, 

When Charles was eight years old he was 
sent to Westminster School, where his broth- 
er Samuel was teaching; John had been go- 
ing to school some time. John and Charles 
loved each other very dearly ; they had been 
taught not to dispute with or vex each other, 
and each year as they grew older they were 
truer and dearer friends. Charles was very 
loving and warm-hearted, more excitable 
than John ; John had just as deep feelings, 
but calmer ways of showing them than 
Charles. 

John and Charles Wesley went to Oxford 
to college. As I told you in my last story, 
it was here that Whitefield became acquaint- 
ed with them. They were pained by the 
vice and idleness of many of the other stu- 
dents, and they tried to live as becomes Chris- 
tian people. They were very regular in their 
duties in college, and, as people who have 
order or system can do more and in a quieter 
way than those who are careless and unsteady, 
they had set times for everything — a method 
for doing things. There were five or six 



62 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

young men who lived in this way, and the 
other students laughed at them. One day 
a young man who thought himself very 
witty called Wesley and his friends Meth- 
odists, on account of their strict " method " 
of living. People thought that name very 
funny, and it has lasted ever since. At first 
it was given in ridicule, but the people to 
whom it was given have made it honorable 
by well-doing, and are not ashamed of it. 
John and Charles Wesley became the found- 
ers of the Methodist Church ; there are thou- 
sands of Methodist churches and Sunday- 
schools in this country and in Europe now, 
and they have done a great deal of good. 
You must not forget that John and Charles 
Wesley were the fathers of this great and 
strong Church. Before this, some plain and 
pious people who were strict in their religious 
ways had been called in England Methodists, 
but only very seldom ; but from the Wesleys' 
time it became the name of a great body of 
Christians. 

While John and Charles were yet in col- 
lege their dear father died ; he was a very 
holy man. His sons were with him in his 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 63 

last hours. He had always tried to teach 
them how to live, and now he could teach 
them how a Christian can die. It made him 
very happy to know that his dear children 
feared God and tried to serve him. He said 
God would take care of his family when he 
was gone. John said to him, " Dear father, 
are you near heaven ?" He replied joyfully, 
"Yes, I am." Charles then prayed with 
him; his father said to him, "Now you have 
done all I want." Presently John prayed, 
and while he was praying the good man lift- 
ed his hands toward heaven and died. 

I told you how poor this good minister was. 
When he died he was in debt for the rent 
of his little farm-place and for a few other 
things. The woman who owned the farm 
sent a constable and took away the horse, 
cows and fowls, worth two hundred dollars, 
to pay for less than half that amount of 
rent. She did this before Mr. Wesley was 
buried, while he lay dead in the house. 
How very cruel ! John had been teaching, 
and he had a little money ; he paid the debt 
and got the stock back, so that it could be 
sold for what it was worth. 



64 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

Samuel and some of the sisters were mar- 
ried, and they took care of their mother. 

About this time it was proposed in Eng- 
land to send people to America, to Georgia, 
to build towns and live there. America 
then belonged to England. Georgia was 
named after the king, George II. At that 
time in France and Germany and Ireland 
were many pious people who were cruelly 
treated by the Roman Catholics. Georgia 
was to be a home for these, where they 
could serve God in peace. As soon as this 
plan was mentioned people liked it greatly, 
and money and ships and tools were given 
to help the people who were going. Min- 
isters and teachers were needed, and John 
and Charles Wesley were asked to go. John 
was to preach to the Indians, and Charles 
was to help the governor and preach to the 
white people. They were anxious to do all 
the good they might, and they agreed to go. 
" Our end was," says John Wesley, " not to 
avoid want, not to get riches or honor, but 
just this — to save souls, to live wholly to 
the glory of God." Was not that a right 
wish? 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 65 

Two pious Englishmen went with them as 
teachers ; also some German people, preach- 
ers and schoolmasters. On shipboard the 
Wesleys had to notice the sober and pious 
conduct of the Germans. 

The voyage was a long one. Once there 
was a terrible storm, and the sailors were in 
a great fright. The Germans were apart by 
themselves. John Wesley went to them ; 
he found them calm, praying and singing 
hymns ; the English were screaming. John 
said to the Germans, " Are you not afraid ?" 
— "We thank God, no/' replied several at 
once. — " But are not the women and children 
afraid ?" — "No," replied the pastor; "our 
women and children are not afraid to die; 
they put their trust in God, and he will 
keep them safe." 

At last they reached Georgia, and after a 
month the two brothers went to different 
places to preach. Charles remained in 
Georgia about three years, and John four. 
The governor did not treat them very 
kindly ; they were sick and often unhappy, 
and were very glad to get home to England. 
You know while they were in Georgia the 



66 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

Wesleys sent for George Whitefield, who did 
so much good in this country. 

After the brothers returned to England 
they both began to preach. They were 
much in earnest and loved to preach to the 
poor. They were very good speakers, and 
crowds came to hear them. Like Mr. 
Whitefield, they preached everywhere — in 
streets, from doorsteps and windows, in the 
fields, wherever people would come. Much 
fault was found about this; bad men and 
boys made mobs and tried to interrupt the 
preaching by noise, throwing stones and 
fighting. Thousands of people came to 
these out-of-door meetings, and many were 
converted. The enemies of the Wesleys did 
all they could to harm them ; the brothers 
were sometimes knocked down and beaten, 
and sometimes arrested and taken before 
judges on the charge of making a riot ! All 
this for just preaching the gospel! Charles 
Wesley writes that he was "as a sheep 
among wolves in these fierce mobs; stones 
flew thick, hitting preacher and people." 
At one place an angry officer of the army 
rushed at Charles Wesley, having in his 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 67 

hand a sword with which to stab him. 
Charles looked him full in the face, saying, 
" I fear God and honor the king. Strike 
if you will I" The man dropped his hand, 
bowed his head and went away in tears. 

A piece of ground had been given them 
to build a house on for preaching. When 
the house was done a mob came together 
and tore it down. One day Charles and 
John Wesley were going to preach ; they 
had with them a young man who loved God 
and helped them in their meetings. This 
young man's uncle hated them so that he 
led some officers to arrest his nephew and 
make him a soldier against his will. They 
threw the poor boy in prison, and he was 
there a week ; at the end of that time the 
judge said he was too short and weak to be 
a good soldier, and so set him free. The 
boy went back to the Wesleys as fast as he 
could. " You were little, like Zaccheus, and 
that saved you," said Charles. John Slo- 
combe, this boy, was then working in a 
baker's shop. He grew up to be a preacher, 
and did a great deal of good in Ireland. 

Often the Wesleys preached in the upper 



68 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

room of some house lent them bv their 
friends. At one time, while Charles was 
thus preaching, the weight of the people 
caused the floor to fall through. Down 
they went, preacher and people, and there 
was great terror and noise. Hardly any- 
body was hurt but a large boy of eighteen. 
I must tell you about him. He was a very 
bad boy, and he had come to disturb the 
meeting. He had filled his pockets with 
stones to throw at Mr. Wesley. When he fell 
through the floor, with dozens of people on 
top of him, he was much hurt and thought 
he should die. He began screaming, " I 
will be good ! I will be good ! I will be 
good !" They took him out and found his 
leg broken in two places. That was the way 
he got paid for his bad conduct. 

By and by the friends of the Wesleys 
bought a large building called " the Foun- 
dry," and had it made into a church. They 
built a little dwelling-house next to it, and 
here their dear mother and two sisters lived 
until they died. 

As years went on the mobs and riots and 
the hatred to the Wesleys stopped in a great 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 69 

measure. The brothers did so much good, 
were so gentle and humble, that people were 
ashamed to quarrel with them. God took 
their part and made even their foes to be at 
peace with them. 

The friendship of the Wesleys and George 
Whitefield lasted as long as they lived ; they 
also knew William Wilberforce, a great and 
good man about whom I shall write my next 
story; he used to visit at Charles Wesley's 
house and talk over plans for helping the 
poor and for building churches and schools. 
Charles Wesley spent many years of his life 
in Bristol and London preaching, while John 
traveled all through England, Scotland, Ire- 
land and Wales. Wherever he went he was 
the means of doing much good. While these 
brothers served God thus cheerfully their 
heavenly Master took care of them. They 
were never very rich, but they were not so 
poor as their father, and were able to take 
care of their mother and sisters. 

These brothers loved poetry ; they wrote 
a large number of books and tracts, and hun- 
dreds of lovely hymns which I dare say you 
have often heard sung in church. Charles 



70 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

Wesley was particularly fond of hymn-writ- 
ing, and some one describes him thus when 
he got to be quite old, almost eighty indeed : 
" He rode out every day on a little horse that 
was so old that it was gray. He was a very 
small man, and now that he was old he dressed 
in winter clothes even in the summer-time. 
If he happened to think of a good verse for 
a hymn as he was getting on a horse, he 
would go on thinking of it and writing it 
on a little card which he carried for this use 
in his pocket. Sometimes his first call on 
entering the house would be, ' Pen and ink ! 
pen and ink ! ' he was in such a hurry to get 
his hymn written." 

Although John Wesley was five years older 
than Charles, Charles died first. His brother 
was very good to him. When Charles was 
sick, John kept writing to him, telling him 
to get such and such doctors or remedies. 
He wrote to Charles's wife, " Never mind the 
expense ; I will pay for all these things if 
you cannot. We must spare nothing that 
will help my dearest brother." 

But God was about to take Charles Wesley 
home to heaven; he said he had so many 



JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY. 71 

friends there that he wanted to go. His 
home on earth was a very pleasant one ; he 
had a good wife and daughter and two sons. 
But in heaven he had Christ his dear Sa- 
viour, his father, mother, brother, sisters and 
several children. Don't you think when he 
got to heaven it must have been like a real 
getting home ? 

John Wesley was away preaching when 
his dear brother died. Charles sent him his 
love, and told him to be a father to the chil- 
dren when he was gone. Then he called his 
wife, and asked her to sit by his bed and write 
for him a verse which had just come into his 
mind. Thus he died, an old man, after a very 
useful and busy life. 

John Wesley lived several years longer 
than Charles. He never thought himself 
too old to preach ; he said when his friends 
told him it was time for him to rest, " I will 
rest when I get to heaven. Do you think I 
travel up and down the country in all sorts 
of weather for pleasure? No; it is to tell 
the good news of Jesus to poor unhappy 
souls that I go, and I will keep on telling 
that news as long as ever I live." 



72 THE TWO BROTHERS. 

I will tell you what the old king of Eng- 
land thought of the work of the Wesleys. 
Charles Wesley had a son who played beau- 
tifully on the organ, and he often went to 
the palace to play for the king. One day 
he was there, and the king said, "Mr, Wes- 
ley, is any one in this room but you and 
mef The king was blind. Mr. Wesley 
replied that no one else was in the room. 
" I will tell you what I think/' said the aged 
king : " I think that Charles and John Wes- 
ley and George Whiteiield and Lady Hun- 
tingdon have done more for religion and for 
the good of England than all other people 
of this day put together." 

Thus you see what the Bible says comes 
true : " Them that honor me I will honor." 
The Wesleys had endured persecution for 
Christ's sake, and he gave them their reward 
both on earth and in heaven. 



IV. 

THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND : 
THE STORY OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 



IV. 

THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND : 

THE STORY OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 



JESUS CHEIST is the poor man's friend. 
He pities, loves and cares for all who 
need. When Jesus was on earth he was 
very kind to the poor. The little bag of 
money which belonged to Jesus and his dis- 
ciples was often opened to relieve the wants 
of the unfortunate. He said to his disciples, 
" Ye have the poor always with you." He 
meant to leave them as a legacy to the 
Church, so that people could help them for 
his sake. He also says, "Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me." Christ 
takes all deeds done for the poor as if they 
were done for himself. When the blind beg- 

75 



76 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

gar by the roadside called to Jesus for help, 
the Saviour had him come near and be healed. 
When John sent messengers to Jesus, " the 
poor have the gospel preached to them " was 
one of the wonderful works he gave them for a 
sign. In these days many people scorn and ne- 
glect the poor, but many others help them 
in the wisest and tenderest manner. In the 
days of Christ on earth the poor had hardly 
any friend but God. David knew where the 
poor should go for help ; he writes : " This 
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, 
and delivered him out of all his trouble.'' 
I think that is a very nice verse for a little 
child to learn, don't you ? 

I am now about to tell you the story of a 
wise and rich man who was the poor man's 
friend. He had a tender heart; he loved 
God and he loved the poor. In his care 
for them he was like our Saviour, who 
went about doing good. 

William Wilbekfokce was born at Hull, 
England. His father was a rich merchant 
who had many vessels that sailed on the 
Baltic Sea. William had no brothers; he 
had three sisters, but two of them died 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 77 

when they were very young ; the other grew 
to be a woman, and he loved her very dearly. 
Bad boys tease and neglect their sisters ; it is 
a sign of a coward to do this. Boys who are 
unkind to their sisters are the sort of boys 
who are afraid of the dark, and who, when 
they see the shadow of a tree or post, run, 
crying out, " O-h-h !" I don't think much 
of that style of boy myself. 

William was not a strong boy: he was 
very small, often sick, and had weak eyes. 
He had, however, a very kind heart and a 
wise head. " Wisdom is better than strength," 
Solomon says, and a kind heart is more 
precious than beauty or gold. When Wil- 
berforce grew up he used often to say, "I 
thank God that I was not born many years 
ago, when people thought it not worth while 
to try and take care of feeble children. They 
would have thought it impossible to make a 
man of a poor little fellow like me." 

Mrs. Wilberforce was a very tender mo- 
ther, and she nursed her delicate child so 
carefully that by and by he got stronger. 
Being so feeble himself made him very 
thoughtful for those who were ill. A lady 



78 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

who often visited his mother said she could 
never forget how kind he was to the suffer- 
ing. He would take off his shoes so as to 
step lightly, and then, going softly to the 
bed, would say to the sick person, "How 
are you now ? Can I not do something to 
make you feel better ?" 

When William was seven years old he 
was able to go to school. Even then he 
showed great talent for speaking. He had 
a sweet voice and a good memory, and he 
spoke so well that the older boys would 
stand him upon the table and hear him 
speak pieces to them. The teacher used 
also often to have him read aloud as an ex- 
ample to the other pupils. When William 
was nine years old his father died. His 
uncle, after whom he was named, then took 
him to bring up. He lived in St. James's 
Place, London. William was sent to school, 
but the teaching was very poor. He stayed 
there two years, going home now and then to 
see his mother. He had an uncle John who 
was a good man. This uncle took him one 
vacation to make a journey. Before they 
started he gave William some money. 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 79 

William was surprised to get so much ; lie 
said, 

"Uncle, this is more than other boys 
have." 

" I give it to you," replied his uncle, " in 
order that you may learn how to do three 
things wisely — save wisely, spend wisely, give 
wisely. Never think that you have a right 
to use all your money for yourself; the poor 
have a claim on you that can never be for- 
gotten." This was a good lesson ; he never 
forgot it. 

William's aunt loved much to hear White- 
field preach, and often took the boy with her 
to listen to that great man's sermons. Wil- 
liam took a deep interest in religion; he 
loved his Bible and desired to live in God's 
fear. A minister who knew him when he 
was twelve years old speaks very highly of 
him as a pious child. His mother and his 
relations at Hull were moral but not Chris- 
tian people. They were the sort of folks who 
called Whitefield and the Wesley s crazy, and 
when William wrote letters about loving God, 
keeping the Sabbath and leading holy lives, 
some of his friends thought he was insane, 



80 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

and some said he must be going to die. They 
alarmed his kind but foolish mother so much 
that she went to London to bring William 
home, saying that his uncle and aunt would 
be the ruin of him. These good people had 
no children, and William was like a son 
to them ; it nearly broke their hearts to 
think of having him leave them. He, in 
turn, loved them dearly, and felt very sad 
to be parted from them. When he got 
back to Hull, to his mother's house, he 
wrote to his uncle and aunt, "You dear, 
good people ! I can never forget you. No, 
not so long as I live." 

He was twelve when he went back to 
Hull, and the first object of his friends 
there was to take his mind from piety and 
make him gay. For the quiet, healthy pleas- 
ures of his happy life at his uncle's they now 
gave him balls and parties, dances, horse- 
races, late suppers, wine, cards, theatres — 
everything which should make him forget 
religion and become careless of salvation. 
Poor foolish people ! they did not know the 
great sin they were committing. Jesus says 
it is better for one to have a big stone fas- 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCR 81 

tened to his neck and to be drowned in the 
middle of the sea than to try and make a 
little Christian child forget God. 

You will wonder why all these tempta- 
tions did not ruin poor William and make 
him an idle, godless, wicked young man. 
The reason is that God took care of his soul. 
You know what God says to his people : 
" Neither shall any pluck you out of my 
hand." Wilberforce wrote afterward about 
this part of his life, saying, " The religious 
views which I rejoiced in at Hull remained 
with me for some time, but my family did 
all they could to drive them away. I may 
say that no pious parents ever did more to 
win to God the soul of a beloved child than 
my mistaken friends did to drive my soul 
from him." 

William's fine voice for singing and speak- 
ing, his love for music and his talent for 
acting and mimicking, made him very agree- 
able in company. He had many friends, 
and they ran after him and flattered him so 
much that he began to enjoy their society 
and forgot the truths that he had learned at 
London. When first they took him to a 



82 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

theatre they had almost to drag him there 
by force, for he thought it wicked to go. 
However, at his home and at his new school 
there were nothing but fun and frolic and 
joking at piety ; and by degrees William 
neglected his Bible and prayer, remained 
away from church, and was as worldly as his 
friends, outwardly. But his heart was not at 
rest ; he often longed for the peace with God 
which once had made him so happy, and he 
strove to comfort himself by the secret read- 
ing of good books and visits to the sick 
and poor. He used to think every one was 
against him ; his relatives tried to make him 
worldly ; his teachers flattered him to make 
him proud ; his friends tempted him to be 
idle and wasteful. He went to college, and 
was much praised for his wit and talent. 
As soon as he left he was elected a member 
of Parliament. This is a very high office in 
England, and in it one can do much harm 
or much good. God enabled Wilberforce to 
use his place to do good, to aid the poor and 
to help the cause of the Lord in all the 
world. 

He kept his birthday when he became 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 83 

twenty-one years old in great style. His 
friends made a fine feast for all the people 
of Hull; they had a dinner out of doors, 
an ox roasted whole and a grand rejoicing. 
Although he was very rich, he was not ex- 
travagant; he had a neat little house near 
London, where he used to ask his friends to 
come and eat " peas and strawberries." He 
thought these much better than wine and 
brandy. He gave up card-playing because 
he saw it to be wicked, and he no longer 
wasted his time at theatres because he had 
better ways of spending his hours. He 
chose his friends from wise and well-behaved 
people. You know there is an old saying, 
"A man is known by the company he 
keeps." The Bible tells us that " Evil com- 
munications corrupt good manners," and also, 
" Go not in the way of sinners." We can- 
not be too careful about avoiding bad com- 
pany. 

One bad habit which he had, of mimick- 
ing or making fun of people, was broken up 
by a good old friend of his, who said, " Mim- 
icry is but a very vulgar accomplishment. 
Any fool can turn into ridicule people much 



84 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

wiser than himself." William saw the jus- 
tice of this remark, and gave up a habit 
which might have made many people un- 
happy. 

But now, in the midst of his busy life and 
his rich friends, God spoke to his soul, recall- 
ing him to the love of his early days. He 
said to himself, " How dare I live as if I 
were never to die ? I must prepare to give 
account to God." He now withdrew from 
those pleasures which kept his heart far 
from God, and sought the friendship of 
pious people. Worldly persons stared and 
wondered because he thought it wrong to 
visit on Sunday or to spend time at theatres. 
He felt that he needed a pious friend, and 
he chose that holy man, the Rev. John 
Newton. His mother heard of this, and 
wrote, begging him "not to disgrace him- 
self by turning pious " ! The good aunt 
with whom he had once lived urged him to 
seek first of all things the kingdom of God. 
Wilberforce now wrote to his mother and 
sister, telling them how anxious he was that 
they should serve the Lord with him. He 
begged them to search the Bible and to pray 



WILLIAM WILBEBFOBCE. 85 

to God for help ; lie also sent them good 
books and prayed for them. God answered 
his prayers : this dear mother and sister 
gave their hearts to God, and now were 
glad to help Mr. Wilberforce in all his 
plans for doing good. He wrote to one of 
his friends, " How can we live as if this 
world would last for ever? Let us feel 
that this world is our road to another life, 
and live so that the life to come will be 
happy." 

In those days English people used to send 
many ships to Africa to steal or buy the poor 
negroes for slaves. In these ships the slaves 
were very cruelly treated, so that hundreds 
of them died. They were also badly used in 
the West Indies, where they were sold to 
work in the sugar, coffee, and indigo-fields. 
Mr. Wilberforce felt that this trade was a 
great sin, and he made up his mind to try 
and stop it. He said to his friends, " The 
more honor and money and power God gives 
me, the more I must serve him. I shall use 
my life, by God's help, in God's service. I 
shall try and break up the slave-trade; I 
shall also try and set an example of a more 



86 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

sober and humble style of living. 1 want 
Christians to act as if they were not owners 
of everything, but stewards of God, who 
must give him an account of all that they 
do and how they use their money." 

Wilberforce's sister was a great help to 
him. She aided him to build schools and 
churches ; they found time to visit prisons 
and get homes for orphans. Sometimes his 
friends told him that he worked too hard ; 
he would answer, " Time is short ; Christ 
bids us work while it is day." 

He was often very ill, and always when he 
got better he would say, " Now I must do 
more work for God, for I may soon die, and 
then my opportunities for work will be 
gone." 

Some of his friends called him the " Red- 
Cross Knight," and said that, like the gallant 
heroes in old stories, he was always fighting 
and destroying monsters. The monsters he 
fought were sins and all kinds of cruelty and 
injustice. One of his friends used to call his 
house " Noah's Ark," and said all kinds of 
creatures swarmed in it ; he was so kind he 
would turn no one away. Widows and or- 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 87 

phans, sick soldiers, poor men out of work 
or in debt, slaves, missionaries, men who 
wanted to send Bibles or tracts to those 
countries where there are none, — all came 
to William Wilberforce. He never got 
cross and weary, but kindly heard every 
story — gave money, lent money, found work, 
advised those who wanted advice, comforted 
the sad, and when he was thanked or praised 
replied, " This is my Master's work ; I love 
to do it for Christ's sake." 

As you grow up, little reader, you will 
often hear William Wilberforce spoken of, 
you will often see his name in books. I 
want to try and fix an idea of him in your 
mind. First, then, remember that he was a 
rich and powerful man of England, whose 
chief joy was to serve God. His love to 
God made him love his fellow-men, and his 
tender heart especially turned to all the poor 
and troubled who needed his help. He was 
a man who used power and honor and money 
not to please himself, but to do good. Now 
I shall set down in order some of the things 
he did, so that you can see how busy and use- 
ful his life was, and can connect these good 



88 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

deeds with his name whenever you see or 
hear it. 

First, then, he fought against the slave- 
trade in England until it was stopped. Now 
England does not trade in slaves nor own 
any. The sin and cruelty that arose from 
this trade are done away, and Wilberforce 
was the man who led in this reform. 

He aided in establishing the Bible Society, 
by means of which cheap Bibles have been 
put in every poor man's reach, and thousands 
of Bibles have been given away, until now 
people cannot say they do not have a chance 
to know the will of God, for his word is 
everywhere. When you read of the Bible 
Society, just think that here is a work that 
William Wilberforce had a hand in. 

He was much interested in building schools, 
not only for children, but night-schools for 
grown people who had not been able to study 
when they were young. When wise and 
good men like Wilberforce set so great a 
value on education, little children should be 
careful to improve every opportunity they 
have for study. 

Wilberforce greatly loved and honored the 



WILLIAM WILBEBFOECE. 89 

Sabbath, and not only by his example, but 
in the making of laws, he tried to stop all 
labor and vain amusements and parades on 
God's holy day. He says of Sunday, " Oh 
what a lovely day, calm, peaceful, sweet, de- 
voted to God ! This gives us strength for all 
the week." You see, children, that good 
people love the Sabbath, and only naughty 
folks say, "It is a weariness." If we love 
God, ought we not to love his day also ? It 
reminds us of him. 

There was nothing which Wilberforce hated 
more than swearing. " Because of swearing," 
says the Bible, "the land mourneth." Some 
boys think it is brave to swear ; they imagine 
it makes them manly. They are greatly 
mistaken. It is a very mean and wicked 
thing to swear. An old saying is, that Satan 
baits his hook to catch everybody but the 
swearer ; he will be caught without any bait 
at all. A boy swears to make himself be- 
lieved. He does it because he knows in his 
heart he is a bad fellow and not worth be- 
lieving. Wilberforce never allowed persons 
to swear without reproving them. No matter 
how rich or grand they were, he was not 



90 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

afraid ; he would at once reason with them 
on this subject. He wrote a note to a noble- 
man who was his friend, asking him to leave 
off swearing. The nobleman got very angry 
and sent him a fierce letter, telling him to 
mind his business : he said, " How dare you 
reprove me ? Here is the book you gave me, 
Mr. Wilber force ; I will have nothing more 
to do with you. Send me back the book I 
gave you in token of friendship ; I will no 
longer be your friend." But Wilberforce 
sent him back such a gentle, pious, earnest 
letter that the angry man repented, left off 
swearing and remained Wilberforee's warm- 
est friend. Let this teach us never to fear to 
do right or to reprove sin, doing it gently. 

Wilberforce aided in establishing religious 
magazines and newspapers ; he was very fond 
of good reading and highly valued nice books. 
I hope no little child that I know ever tears 
up books or breaks off the covers. You are 
very fortunate in having books to read. 
Once, little children had no books at all, not 
even a Bible. 

Wilberforce was a great friend to missions. 
He loved the poor heathen and wanted the 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 91 

gospel sent to them. He also spent much 
time among the prisons, and many good 
laws and much kind treatment and teaching 
of prisoners in jail were first thought of by 
this good man, whose heart seemed large 
enough to hold all the world. He was a 
man of peace; war he hated. Jesus is the 
Prince of peace, and his friends should al- 
ways try to settle troubles peaceably, not by 
war, bloodshed and heart-breaks. Many 
boys think war a grand show and that sol- 
diering is a perfectly beautiful thing. Yes, 
my dears, it is no doubt very jolly to march 
about in gay paper caps with your red drums 
and noisy penny whistles. But did you 
ever think how terrible is war in earnest, 
when sons have to leave their mothers and 
fathers their children, and never come back 
any more ? Did you ever think of the cry- 
ing there is at home when men are killed in 
battle, and how terrible it is for soldiers to 
die wounded and far from friends ? Wilber- 
force thought of all these things, and he saw 
that there is a glory in peace far greater than 
is to be found in war. He was of those of 
whom Jesus spoke : " Blessed are the peace- 



92 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

makers, for they shall be called the children 
of God." 

For all he worked so hard and had begun 
life as such a feeble baby, Wilberforce lived 
to be seventy-four years old — that is, as old 
as your grandfather. His hair grew snow- 
white and his shoulders were bent, but he 
had the kind smile coming from a loving 
heart. He had six children, whom he loved 
very much. They grew up pious and noble 
like their father, and were glad to care for 
him in his old age. Two of his sons were 
ministers. When Wilberforce was an old 
man he lost nearly all of his fortune. 
What do you think he said then ? Did he 
complain and despair because God took away 
his money ? Oh no. He said he was very 
thankful that God had let him have money 
until his children were grown up and educa- 
ted and were taking care of themselves. He 
could now go with his wife and live with his 
sons. He also thanked God that he had no 
debts — that, as the apostle bids us, " He owed 
no man anything save to love one another." 
Then he was very glad indeed that he had 
been able to give so much away. He had 



WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. 93 

made many people happy ; had put men in 
places where they could earn their own liv- 
ing ; had helped the sick and built churches 
and schools and given away Bibles ; he had 
had money long enough to do good with it, 
and that made him glad. This is what the 
Bible calls laying up " treasures in heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves do not break through nor steal." 
If we thus lay up treasure we will be happy, 
for Christ tells us, " Where your treasure is, 
there will your heart be also." The heart of 
Wilberforce rested in heaven ; he sent his 
treasure there. To him, when he grew old 
and his work was done, it was not sad to die. 
No, for his love and his joy were in heaven ; 
Jesus was there; his dear sister had gone 
there; his daughter Barbara had reached 
there before him. He was like one who 
walks along a green and flowery path, pick- 
ing flowers, hearing birds and thanking God 
who " makes everything beautiful in its 
time," and then sees a gate open, and so 
walks into a lovely garden full of all de- 
light. So, before this child of God the gate 
of heaven was opened by the Saviour whom 



94 THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. 

he loved, and he went gladly into that happy 
place. 

Learn this verse, find out what it means, 
and then see if you can live it : 

" The path of the just is as the shining 
light, which shineth more and more unto the 
perfect day." 



V. 

THE PRISONER'S FRIEND: 

THE STORY OF JOHN HOWARD. 




John Howard. 



Page 97. 



THE PRISONER'S FRIEND : 

THE STORY OF JOHN HOWARD. 



THE Bible tells us that the Lord hears 
"the sighing of the prisoners/' and 
Jesus says that those who love him are ten- 
der-hearted and visit those who are sick or 
in prison. There was once a man who was 
known all over the world as the prisoner's 
friend and the friend of the sick. Like 
the Lord, he went about doing good, and I 
am glad to tell you that his acts did not 
come just from mere good-nature and ami- 
ability, but they grew out of a right prin- 
ciple, a sense of duty, a deep love to God. 
This man's name was John Howaed. 
Howard's father was a very rich merchant 
in England ; he had no children but John. 

7 97 



98 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

Mr. Howard had several fine houses in Lon- 
don and in the country, but he kept his lit- 
tle son in the country mostly, because he was 
not a strong child and city air was bad for 
him. John sometimes went to school, and 
sometimes had a tutor at home, but his mo- 
ther was his best friend and teacher. She 
was a good, pious mother, and her first wish 
was that John should be a child of God. 
She used often to tell him the stories of 
John the Baptist, of John the disciple 
whom Jesus loved, and of plenty of good 
Johns who have lived since, as John Calvin 
and John Knox, and she would tell her boy 
that she hoped he would grow up to be like 
those holy men. 

John was a very tender-hearted lad ; he 
pitied all who were in any trouble, was very 
polite to the servants, and loved much to go 
with his mother and carry her basket of gifts 
when she went about among the poor and sick 
in the village near them. 

John was quite a young lad when his 
mother died ; he felt very lonely without 
her, the more as his father was an odd 
man, and much away from home, occupied 



JOHN HOWARD. 99 

in his business. John had always been an 
obedient boy and learned the lessons which 
his teachers set him, but he was not very 
fond of study. As he was growing up his 
father said he did not think John would 
ever make a very good scholar, and therefore 
he would have him learn a trade. He took 
him to London and put him with a grocer 
to learn his business. Some boys love to 
be in a store; they think it is fine fun to 
sell tea and sugar and soap and all those 
sorts of things; but John hated it. Still, 
he had to stay and make the best of it, 
since his father said so. He was with the 
grocer a year, from the age of fifteen to 
sixteen. At this time his father died. Mr. 
Howard thought too much money was bad 
for young men, and he made his will so 
that John could not have his fortune to do 
what he pleased with until he was twenty - 
five years old. 

John had got very tired of staying at the 
grocery, so he talked with the friends in 
whose care his father had left him, and they 
said perhaps he had better go and travel on 
the continent of Europe. He took a good man 



100 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

with him as his teacher and friend. Some 
young men think they know everything ; they 
do not want any one to tell them what is right 
or wrong. John Howard was not of this 
proud spirit ; he was humble, and consid- 
ered it no disgrace to do as the Bible says 
and " obey those that have the rule over 
you." 

Howard was a pious young man, and when 
he was traveling he kept his eyes open to see 
the wrongs and sorrows that were in the world, 
that he might do something to help those who 
were suffering. He traveled in Europe about 
eight years, and then went home to England 
to get the money which his father had left 
him. 

Not long after this there was a terrible 
earthquake at Lisbon, a city in Portugal. 
Do you know what an earthquake is ? Per- 
haps not, for we do not have them in this 
country ; and you ought to be glad of it. 
An earthquake is a great shaking of the 
earth ; when the shaking is very severe it 
throws down churches and houses as if they 
were made of cards ; it tears open the ground 
in great pits, and people and beasts, trees, and 



JOHN HOWARD. 101 

even villages, tumble in and are seen no more. 
When an earthquake is under the sea the water 
behaves very strangely. The waves rush back 
and leave dry land where always before they 
have flowed, and then they rise up like a 
mountain and roll in far over the towns and 
fields, where no waves ought ever to come. 
This is a fearful sight — walls falling, steeples 
waving like reeds, and people screaming and 
flying and falling down dead. Indeed, I 
hope you will never know anything of earth- 
quakes except by reading of them. 

The earthquake at Lisbon was most dreadful. 
A great wave came in, such as I told you of, 
sweeping all before it, and scarcely anything 
was left of the once noble city, for the shaken 
and broken earth and the mountain of water 
had destroyed all. Hardly a family was to 
be found without some dead. Children had 
lost their parents, and parents their children. 
Those who were left alive had lost their homes, 
property and clothes ; a great cry went up that 
sounded over all the world. John Howard 
heard it in London. He could not rest, and 
he took a great deal of money and clothing 
with him and set off for the scene of trou- 



102 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

ble, to see what he could do for the afflict- 
ed. At that time all Europe was full of war 
and confusion, and the ship in which Howard 
sailed was attacked by a war- vessel upon the 
sea. The ship was burned, and all aboard of 
her were made prisoners and carried to Brest, 
a port of France. Brest lies to the north of 
the Bay of Biscay. In those days prisoners 
of war were very cruelly treated. They were 
crowded in close, hot pens not fit for pigs to 
be in, and were given hardly any food ; be- 
sides this, all the money or nice things they 
had with them were stolen. Howard and 
his fellow-prisoners had a very bad time of 
it; some of them died and some got sick. 
Howard kept up his courage like a brave 
man. If he had been selfish, he would 
have thought of nothing but to get free 
himself; as he was not selfish and always 
lived up to the Golden Rule, he cared as 
much for helping his fellow-sufferers as he 
did for helping himself. 

Do you know what the Golden Rule is ? I 
will write it down for you, and if you have 
never learned it I hope you will do so at 
once; then you will be able to tell how 



JOHN HOWARD. 103 

John Howard obeyed it. See, here it is : 
" Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, do ye even so 
to them ; for this is the law and the 
prophets." 

Howard had in England plenty of money 
and very many friends, and by means of 
these he at last obtained an exchange of 
prisoners. The English government gave 
up as many Frenchmen who were in their 
prisons as there were Englishmen in prison 
at Brest, and so many hearts were made 
glad and the captives were set free and went 
off rejoicing. We learn sympathy by suf- 
fering. If Tommy Brown has ever burnt 
his finger, he knows how to be sorry for his 
little sister Jane when she burns herself; 
Tommy knows how it hurts, you see. So 
John Howard by having been in prison 
learned to pity all poor prisoners. He re- 
membered, as the apostle says, " those that 
are in bonds, as bound with them." 

When How r ard got back to England he 
married, and went to live in a fine house 
which his father had left him in the village 
of Cardington. When he got to this place it 



104 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

grieved him much to see how poor the peo- 
ple were— how lazy and dirty, what wretched 
hovels they lived in, and how no one cared 
for their souls, and there were no schools in 
which the children could be taught. He re- 
membered how his mother had cared for 
poor people, and he and his wife thought 
they would follow her example. He felt 
that while wages were so low and houses 
were so bad the people had no encourage- 
ment to be clean and busy. He went to 
work among them with all his heart; he 
showed that he was their friend, and as he 
was so good to them the poor people tried 
to please him. He built neat little houses 
and urged each family to have a tidy garden ; 
he put up a pretty schoolhouse and sent 
for teachers; and he had a minister come 
and live at Cardington who would visit the 
people, preach the gospel and try and lead 
them to heaven. In a few years all was 
changed. Instead of being a vile, dirty 
village, Cardington was one of the busiest 
and thriftiest places in all England. The 
people were decent and healthful, and every- 
thing went well. John Howard, however, 



JOHN HOWARD, 105 

had his own woes ; his wife died, and the 
only child they had became first sick and 
then crazy, and, instead of being able to be 
his poor father's comfort, he had to be put in 
an asylum. Some people when they have 
trouble sit down and mope and fret ; others 
go to work to do good, and in this way they 
find comfort for themselves. Howard was a 
Christian, and he found help from God, and 
so was able to bear his trials. God is very 
tender of his children ; he says, " As one 
whom his mother comforteth, so will I com- 
fort you." Is not that a sweet verse ? Dur- 
ing the time that John Howard had been 
busy at Cardington he had been also trying 
to get the English government to make bet- 
ter rules for the treatment of prisoners taken 
in war ; he felt that a nation like the Eng- 
lish, where Bibles were in every house and 
churches in every village, should set an ex- 
ample of doing right and of behaving on 
Christian principles. Howard did not be- 
lieve in revenge ; he believed in forgiveness 
and kindness. 

Now that his wife was dead and his son 
gone from him, Howard went again to the 



106 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

Continent to study the laws regarding pris- 
oners and to see what could be done for the 
poor — -to educate them and make them more 
happy. When he got back to England he 
found that he had been made sheriff. It is 
part of the duty of a sheriff to look after 
the prisons. Howard was very glad of this 
office, for he hoped that now he would be 
able to do something to make the prisons 
more comfortable. He found them damp, 
dark, dirty places, where people were herded 
together like sheep or cattle. There were no 
books for them to read, no work to be done, 
no chance to be clean or quiet, no preachers 
to visit them. In those days they put men 
in jail for debt, as I told you happened to 
John Wesley's father, that good man who 
by no fault of his own was not able to pay 
a little money which he owed. How hard 
it must have been for some pious minister or 
good father of a happy family to be shut up 
in jail in a room with vile drunken men and 
wicked swearers who loved nothing but 
wickedness! Besides all this there was no 
money spent in taking care of the prisons, 
and the prisoners had to pay their board 



JOHN HOWARD. 107 

there, and after they were ordered by the 
judge to be set free the jailer could keep 
them for weeks because they had no money 
to pay him. 

One of the jails which Howard had 
charge of was at Bedford — the very jail 
where good John Bunyan was put in prison 
for preaching in the name of Jesus, and 
where he wrote that dear book, Pilgrim's 
Progress. 

Howard was so distressed by the miseries 
of the prisoners that he spent all his time 
and a great deal of his money in trying to get 
better laws passed and better prisons built. 
In only a year he had succeeded in helping 
matters a great deal. He had little books or 
tracts printed giving the new rules for tak- 
ing care of prisons, and relating some of the 
sad things he had seen in them. He sent 
these all over the country, and the English 
people felt that it was high time to improve 
matters. 

As people had now roused up to do better, 
Howard traveled in France, Germany, Hol- 
land and Belgium, countries of Europe, and 
wrote accounts of all their prisons. This 



108 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

made the kings and rulers of those lands 
feel that they also ought to improve their 
prisons; and so all at once half the world 
began to take an interest in helping to make 
prisoners more comfortable and to make 
them better men while they were in jail. 
Howard said men should not be sent to jail 
to grow worse, but to make them better; 
while in prison they should be made to 
work, to keep clean, to get strong and heal- 
thy ; and they should be taught their duty 
to God and man. 

You see what, by God's help, one person 
can do who is only in earnest to work. All 
the world now loved and respected this man 
John Howard ; kings sent him gifts and let- 
ters and asked his advice; and the poor 
everywhere loved him as their friend. God 
says, " Him that honoreth me I will honor." 
Howard honored and loved God, and the 
Lord made him to be esteemed by all classes 
of men. A very great orator of England 
named Burke made a fine speech about 
Howard and his good deeds. I will set 
down some of it for you, but perhaps I shall 
change some of his longest words, so that 



JOHN HOWARD. 109 

my small friends will be able to read it 
easily : " He has gone over all Europe, not 
to visit the rich, to see fine sights, to please 
himself, to feast and to dress like a prince ; 
but he went to visit the huts of beggars, to 
dive deep into dungeons, to visit hospitals, to 
go wherever there was sorrow or pain. He 
went to measure, not temples, but human 
woes, to remember the neglected, to lift up 
the fallen, to wipe away tears, and to make 
himself poor — to strip himself of fortune, 
that he might help the needy." What do 
you think of that, children ? Is not such a 
life far better than to live at ease and forget 
the poor ? Is it not better than to be a great 
soldier, and make war and burn cities and 
rob houses, being called a great conqueror 
for doing such things? 

For ten years Howard gave himself 
chiefly to improving prisons, and at last all 
over the world he found new wise laws, and 
prisons built where comfort, cleanliness and 
decency were taught, where labor was done, 
and where people were not put for debts 
which they could not pay. It is wrong not to 
pay debts ; the Bible tells us to strive to live 



110 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

peaceably with all men, and to owe no man 
anything, but to love one another. The law 
now provides some other way of paying 
debts than to shut up a man where he can 
earn no money either to take care of his 
family or pay back what he owes. Don't 
borrow, children ; only spend money which 
justly belongs to you. Solomon says, " The 
borrower is servant to the lender." 

At the end of his ten years' labor for pris- 
oners Howard was quite feeble and worn with 
hard work. He looked sick and old, and 
more than half his great fortune was gone. 
Most men would have thought that this was 
quite enough to do, and would have rested 
all the rest of their lives. Howard did not 
feel in this way ; he loved to do good. 
While he had been traveling about to look 
after prisons he had seen a good deal of hos- 
pitals and of what are called lazar-houses — 
that is, places where lepers or people with 
the plague are put. The sick were not well 
cared for in these places. Howard thought 
that with better nurses and doctors, nicer food, 
cleaner beds and more air the sick would 
have less pain and more would get well. He 



JOHN HOWARD. Ill 

thought so many people ought not to die 
in the hospitals; and besides, diseases were 
allowed to spread , plague and cholera and 
fearful sicknesses were carried from one land 
to another, because care was not taken of the 
people who had these diseases or had been 
among them. To learn their symptoms and 
the best way of curing them, Howard trav- 
eled through France and Italy, and went 
down into Turkey and the islands of the 
sea, where diseases are more common than in 
England. His friends told him that if he 
went about so among sick folks he would 
take some bad disease and die. John How- 
ard replied that he was not afraid to die ; 
what he feared most was to live neglecting 
his duty. He said he did not expose him- 
self to sickness from any idle curiosity or 
carelessness, but he was trying to do good. 
He felt sure that God had put it in his heart 
to labor for him, and that God would pre- 
serve him in danger and keep him alive as 
long as there was work for him to do. 

I don't want you to think that John How- 
ard dressed himself up finely and walked 
about among the sick with his hands in his 



112 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

pockets. No, indeed ; he went to help. He 
went with the doctors and nurses to the beds 
of the suffering, and he helped to give them 
medicine, to bathe their hot heads, to fan them 
and comfort them. He took them nice food 
and coaxed them to eat, and then he sat by 
them talking softly of heaven — of Jesus who 
died on the cross for us, and who will not 
cast out any who come unto him. Howard 
had now so many friends that he soon in- 
duced people to care for the sick as they 
had done for the prisoners. It was easier, 
perhaps, for you know some people will say, 
" Serves them right !" when they hear of 
persons in prison for doing wrong, while 
almost every one will say, " What a pity !" 
when they hear of sickness. Howard was 
not a man to meddle with things of which 
he knew nothing. Though as a boy he had 
not loved study, as a man he had learned for- 
eign languages and had studied medicine, so 
that he could be of real, use to the sick. He 
was willing to deny himself both in work, 
study and money in order to help others. 
In this he followed the example of our 
blessed Saviour, who denied himself for our 



JOHN HOWARD. 113 

sakes — for us became poor, in order, as the 
Bible tells us, that we through his poverty 
might be rich. 

Howard was encouraged to go on with his 
labors among the sick because he saw how 
much good he was doing. The poor crea- 
tures in the hospitals loved and blessed him, 
and when he came in at the door there was 
a smile on all the pale thin faces, and eager 
hands were held out to welcome him. He 
was just the right sort of a person to visit the 
sick ; he was cheerful and encouraging, strong 
and wise and kind. He knew what would be 
likely to cure people, and he was also able to 
pray for them. More than that, he could 
teach them how to die ; he could tell them 
what would make their souls happy. It is 
a great thing to be ready to die ; if we are 
ready to die, we are surely ready to live. 
Do you understand me, Katy and Robert? 
If you are children of Jesus, if you love 
him and would go to him in glory if you 
should die to-day, you are also ready to 
serve him and love him if it pleases him to 
spare your lives until you are very old and 
gray-headed — as old as your grandfather. 



114 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

While John Howard was so busy time was 
not standing still with him ; he was getting 
to be old. He was old, but he did not know 
it ; he was thinking so much of other people 
that he did not think of himself, and he 
worked away just as hard as when he was a 
young man. When he was sixty-three years 
old he started to go to Turkey, and then into 
Asia; he meant to go to Egypt, the land 
where Moses was put in the bulrushes, you 
know, and then he was going to Palestine, 
where our Lord Jesus Christ once lived. He 
was not going merely to see the places, but 
he wanted to try and help the poor lepers 
and persons sick of the plague, of whom 
there are very many in those hot countries, 
where, I am sorry to say, the people are not 
very clean. I have seen girls and boys 
frown, or even cry, because they were made 
to bathe often and change their clothes. 
Silly children ! Nothing will make them 
stronger and more active than to be neat; 
cold water is one of the greatest blessings 
God has ever sent to man. 

Howard accordingly set out from London 
to go to the East. He traveled slowly, vis- 



JOHN HOWARD. 115 

iting the sick in every city. At last he 
reached Kherson, a city on the Black Sea. 
Here many persons were sick of camp-fever, 
a very terrible disease. Howard began to 
help nurse the sick as usual, but now, as he 
was old and feeble, he was more ready to 
take disease than in his early days. He 
presently got sick, and a friend who trav- 
eled with him saw that he had camp-fever. 
When the news spread about town every 
one felt very sad that this great friend of 
all human beings was suffering so greatly. 
In a few days the doctors said that he must 
die. Indeed, Howard knew it before they 
told him. He was not alarmed; he only 
said that he was ready, and sent his love 
and blessing to all his friends. Nearly all 
his great fortune was gone, spent Ja doing 
good; it was treasure laid up in heaven. 
There was enough left to take care of his 
poor crazy son. John Howard had all his 
life trusted in the Lord and worked for 
him, and his dear Master was near to com- 
fort him in the hour of death. He died 
very peacefully and happily. He made his 
friends promise to bury him in Kherson and 



116 THE PRISONER'S FRIEND. 

put only a plain stone at his grave. They 
obeyed him, and on that stone is a very 
beautiful inscription in Latin — only three 
words, but they mean so much : " He lived 
for others." And did he not live for others? 
Did he not obey the Golden Rule? I am 
sure you will all say Yes, yes ! The English 
government put up for him a very beautiful 
monument in Westminster Abbey, where the 
greatest men of the land are buried. If ever 
you go to England you will see it, I suppose. 



VI. 
THE BOY BY THE ARNO: 

THE STORY OF GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 



VI. 

THE BOY BY THE AMO. 

THE STORY OF GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 



THERE is an old proverb which reads thus: 
"The boy is father of the man." Chil- 
dren puzzle over this sometimes, and end by 
thinking it one of the queer things grown-up 
folks say. They ask, " How can a boy be a 
man's father?" and there they let it drop. 
You know, boys are often like their fathers, 
don't you ? The boy looks like his father, 
walks like him, talks like him, acts like him. 
I think this should make fathers very careful 
how they behave, when they see that their 
boys imitate them. As a little mite of a girl 
said to me this morning, "A body can't write 
better than their copy." 

Now, as a boy acts and is like his father, 

119 



120 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

so the boy when he grows up acts and is like 
he was when a boy. The lazy boy is a lazy 
man ; a rude, cross, bad boy is a bad man ; 
and a polite, honest, earnest boy will be a 
good and useful man. At least, this is so 
often enough to make a rule. It is true that 
a bad boy may have his heart changed by 
God's grace, and so become a good man ; and 
some nice boys, forgetting to ask God's help 
and keep on doing right, fall away into sin 
and go to ruin. This should teach us all to 
be careful. The boy whose story I am wri- 
ting for you in this book fulfilled in his 
grown-up days the promises of his child- 
hood. 

Far off, in Italy, there is a beautiful city 
built on the banks of the river Arno ; it is 
called Florence. A great many pretty little 
girls are named after this Old- World city, 
and the name itself is given in remembrance 
of flowers. This city is full of beautiful 
churches, pictures, palaces, fountains and 
images of marble; but, after all, one of its 
chief honors is that here lived and died that 
good man, Gikolamo Savonarola. This 
name is almost too long to put in a little 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 121 

book for little people, but don't blame me ; 
you know I cannot help what they named a 
baby four hundred years ago. Our hero was 
not born in Florence, but in a city not very 
far off, called Ferrara. I am sure some of 
you remember about this city ; you read of 
it in the " True Story Library, No. 2." 
Don't you know I told you how John Cal- 
vin fled there from his foes, and how kind 
Renee the duchess, the daughter of a 
French king, lived there and was a de- 
fender of God's Church and the friend of 
all pious people ? The father and mother 
of this boy, Savonarola, were very nice peo- 
ple ; they were amiable, learned and rich ; 
they tried to do right as far as they knew ; 
and they were a very happy family. In 
Italy in those days there was no Church but 
the Roman Catholic, and to it this household 
belonged. The mother was rather more pi- 
ous than the father, and cared more for her 
Church. 

This son of theirs seemed from the time 
he was a baby to be unusually good and 
lovable. Like John the Baptist, Jeremiah 
and Timothy, he was pious from a child. 



122 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

He was cheerful and kind in his manners, 
but loved study better than play ; he was 
healthy and always busy, loved to pray and 
to go to church, and was fond of being by 
himself, thinking gravely, and of talking to 
people about heaven and holy persons. In 
his nursery he used to take the stools, rugs 
and towels and make little churches and al- 
tars and try to dress himself up like a priest. 
Then he would take a book and pretend to 
pray, preach and sing. His nurse thought 
this very wonderful, and she would catch 
him in her arms and say foolishly, " Oh, you 
dear, blessed angel ! you are too good to live ; 
you will very soon be in heaven, I am sure/' 
This was a very silly idea. God does not 
take good children right out of the world, 
as if they were too nice for it, but he lets 
them live in it to make it better. This boy 
was especially noted for his love of truth. 
He hated everything like a lie ; he wanted 
true talk and stories and actions. His first 
question of anything was, " Is it true ?" 

His mother looked on him with delight. 
She would take him in her arms and say, 
" My darling boy, you shall be a priest or a 



OIROIAMO SAVONAROLA. 123 

monk when you grow up. You will live a 
very holy life, and do so many good works 
that you will get to heaven. Then after you 
are dead you will be made a saint, for your 
goodness, by the Church. I hope your piety 
will help to save your father and me." 

This poor mother knew no better. She 
had never heard that we are saved only by 
the blood of Jesus — that that blood must 
wash away our sins and take us to heaven. 
No, she thought people saved themselves and 
their friends by their good works, and that 
holy men and women might be prayed to 
after they were dead. She told her dear 
child the best she knew ; what a pity that 
she knew so little! 

His father did not feel as his mother did. 
He was glad his boy was good, but he did 
not care to have him a priest. He was 
proud that his son was so smart and learned 
so fast. He would say, " Being a priest or a 
monk would be well enough if you were sure 
of being made a cardinal or a pope; but such 
honor does not come to very many men, and 
I am afraid it will not fall to you. So, my 
son, you shall be a great lawyer and earn 



124 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

money and fame, or you shall be a learned 
teacher like your good grandfather, whom 
all Italy honored." 

The boy made no reply to all these fine 
plans. In his heart he agreed with his mo- 
ther and wanted to be a priest. His relig- 
ious teachers, the priests, encouraged these 
feelings. I dare say they loved him for his 
humble manners and his goodness, and they 
thought he could be happiest and do the 
most good if he were a monk. 

As Savonarola grew up he received many 
honors and prizes in school for being the best 
scholar, but little by little he dropped his 
other studies and cared only for books about 
religion. If he had had a Bible and such 
good books as we have in these days, what 
a blessing they would have been to him ! 

Thus at home and in school Savonarola 
spent his early days, like Moses, Samuel, 
David and Paul, distinguished for wisdom 
and piety. God meant him to do a great 
and good work in his life, and he fitted him 
for it by giving him a fine mind and a ten- 
der heart, full of love and fearing to do any- 
thing that was wrong. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 125 

The terrible wickedness common in those 
days greatly hurt this youth's feelings ; he 
kept looking about for goodness, and he 
thought he had found it in an order of 
monks called the Dominicans. They were 
really very selfish and exceedingly cruel 
men, but he did not know this. They pre- 
tended to be very pious — to spend their days 
praying, fasting, teaching the poor, studying 
good books and nursing the sick. Savona- 
rola thought he should like to live in this 
way, devoted to good works. He wished 
he could be a Dominican monk. But his 
father could not bear this idea; he some- 
times laughed and sometimes was angry 
when his son talked of being a monk. The 
Bible bids children obey their parents ; Sa- 
vonarola should have been careful to please 
his father, and not be in too great haste to 
be a monk against his will. But his teach- 
ers, the priests, told him it was his first duty 
to be a monk, whether his father liked it or 
not ; and as the young man had not been able 
to read the Bible and learn the will of the 
Lord for himself, he believed all that they 
told him. 



126 THE BOY BY THE ABNO. 

In those days the Roman Catholic Church 
was even more wicked than now, for it did 
not have so many other churches to hinder 
its bad deeds and put it to shame for vice 
and cruelty. Savonarola did not know 
where to fly from so much wickedness ex- 
cept into a Dominican monastery ; and per- 
haps among so much that was bad this was 
the best. He said he turned monk for the 
sake of saving his soul. Sin filled him with 
grief and horror, and the first thing he cared 
for was to be holy. I wish we all desired it 
as much. When he was twenty- two years 
old Savonarola felt as if he could endure 
his troubles on account of sin no longer, 
but he must at once be a monk. 

As he knew his father would never con- 
sent, he made up his mind to run away from 
home. He took a little book of the Psalms 
which he loved much, and leaving all else 
set out on foot one night from Ferrara, and 
walked to Bologna, where was a monastery 
of Dominicans. They very gladly took 
him in and made him one of them. He 
then wrote a letter to his father and sent it 
by a servant to Ferrara. He had certainly 



OIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 127 

done very wrong, but he did not know it. 
His letter is very sweet, loving and pious : 
I will set down some of it for you to read. 
He writes thus : " Dear, kind father, I doubt 
not that you feel sad because I am gone, and 
all the more sad because I left you without 
letting you know. But I was sure you would 
keep me at home, and oh, I could not stay. 
All the world is so wicked I did not know 
where in it to find holy men, and I feared 
to be led into sin and that I would lose my 
soul. It made my heart ache to see so much 
sin ; I could not endure it any longer. All 
day my prayer was to God, ' Show me the 
path in which I should walk, for unto thee 
do I lift up my soul.' Oh, do not think I 
went from you in any anger or in pride or 
foolishness or a whim. No ; I went because 
I wanted to get where I could do nothing but 
serve Jesus. Dear father, Jesus gave me to 
you ; do you not thank him that he has kept 
me until now out of much sin, and that he 
has made me love him — that he has called 
me to be his soldier? You ought to be 
glad, but I know you love me so well that 
you will weep because I am gone. I too 



128 THE BOY BY THE ABNO. 

wept all the way here because I must leave 
my good parents and my home. But, father, 
I have heard the voice of my Lord calling 
me, ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy-laden : take my yoke upon you 
and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and 
my burden is light.' I have fled from you 
to find rest to my soul. Trust God, and 
when we meet in glory we will never part. 
Comfort my dear mother, and do send me 
your blessing. I will pray for you, my pa- 
rents, every day. Your loving son." 

Such was his letter. He says he is Christ's 
soldier. He was to be this truly — a soldier 
who would not love his life, but lay it down 
for Jesus. God leads the blind by ways 
that they know not; he was thus leading 
this young man. 

Now Savonarola was in the convent in 
Bologna. You will want to know what sort 
of a place it was, and how he looked and 
lived when he got there. The convent was 
called St. Dominic's. It was built of gray 
stone, and looked a good deal like a fort. It 
had a chapel in it with walls beautifully paint- 
ed, and many fine pictures hung in the halls 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 129 

and over the altars. It was divided up into 
little cells or rooms, each with a heavy door, 
a narrow window high up near the ceiling, 
and a small, hard bed against the wall. The 
floors were all of stone. If you ever go to 
Bologna you can see it yet. Now it is 
empty — not a soul lives in it; in Savona- 
rola's time it was full of monks. There was 
a library in this convent, and in the cellars 
were the tombs where they buried the dead 
monks. Here Savonarola found two good 
men, Sylvester and Dominic, who like him- 
self loved the Lord and wished to serve him. 
The three were great friends. 

Savonarola was fond of reading and study ; 
he loved also to write hymns. Here is a 
pretty verse from a hymn which he wrote : 

" Gentle Jesus, oh how blessed 

He who flies this world for thee ! 
His the breast whose state is ever 
Calm, serene and spirit-free." 

Thus he felt when he got to the clois- 
ters of St. Dominic, thinking he was to 
live there the rest of his life, calm, studious, 
holy, happy and loved. But God's thoughts 



130 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as 
our ways. This man's cares, strifes and 
troubles were all before him. He wore now 
the dress of a monk, a black gown tied 
about the waist with a rope, to which hung 
a cross. On his head he had a black woolen 
hood, the cape of which fell over his shoul- 
ders. He had sandals on his feet. His 
clothes were very coarse. He thought that 
he would grow holier if he denied himself 
all pleasant things, so he ate no nice food, 
only a little that was common, and slept on 
a straw mattress laid on a plank. The truth 
is, dear children, that God loves to see us all 
happy, and is willing that we should enjoy 
those comfortable things which he gives us. 
But Savonarola did not know this yet. One 
great blessing he had at St. Dominic's, and 
that was a Bible. Like Martin Luther, he 
seized with gladness the dear word of God. 
He was one of the teachers of the convent, 
and every day, after his teaching-hours were 
over, he hurried to his cell and studied the 
Bible with all his heart. 

He now began to write some sermons ; he 
spent a great deal of time on them, but did 



GIEOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 131 

not preach them. He said he was not holy 
enough for a minister. After seven years, 
however, he agreed to yield to the wishes of 
all the monks and of his friends, and preach. 
All the people in the city said that the wise 
and holy Savonarola was to preach one of 
the wonderful sermons which he had been so 
many years in writing, and they crowded to 
the great church to listen, ready to praise. 
What do you think ? Why, when he went 
into the pulpit he could not preach at all. 
He could not speak well nor loudly, nor re- 
member what he wanted ; indeed, every one 
was disappointed that a man so good should 
have failed in his preaching. He merely said 
meekly, " Well, I see that my Lord has not 
yet called me to preach the gospel." 

For three years more this good man kept 
on with his teaching, reading the Bible and 
visiting the sick and poor. He was never 
idle. He did much good. He was sad be- 
cause he could not preach, but he was pa- 
tient and faithful. At last he was sent for 
to preach in the city of Brescia. He heard 
in this request the voice of God. He went, 
and now indeed he could preach the gospel. 



132 THE BOY BY THE ABNO. 

The people hung upon his words ; tears 
flowed over their cheeks at thought of their 
sins ; they longed for that love of God and 
peace of conscience which the preacher set 
before them. Now, at once, Savonarola was 
famous. Hundreds followed to hear him 
preach. He was invited from one great city 
to another. All this honor did not make 
him proud ; he only wished to do good. He 
was made prior or chief of his convent. He 
still kept his coarse clothes, his humble way 
of living and his great industry. He clung 
to his Bible, and taught what he learned in 
that holy book. He was not only very earn- 
est, very plain and very severe on sin in his 
preaching, but he was witty and amusing, 
and knew how to make people remember 
what he said to them. He loved the poor, 
calling them " his dear children." At this 
time he was sent for to become prior of the 
convent of St. Mark's in the splendid city 
of Florence. It was a beautiful convent. 
The prince who built it was a proud and 
rich man. 

When Savonarola got to St. Mark's the 
monks said to him, " You will have to go 



GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 133 

and thank the prince for giving you this 
convent." 

"Why?" said he. "Who do you think 
sent me here — God or man ?" 

They made no answer. He went on : 

" If I have come here only by man's call, 
I am in the wrong place, and had better go 
back to Bologna." 

"Oh," said the monks, "doubtless God 
sent you here." 

"Then," he replied, "surely I must thank 
God only, and not any prince." 

Lorenzo, this prince, was a very bad man. 
He did not like the preacher to speak against 
the sins which he loved. He thought by 
gifts and by loud praises to hire the pious 
monk not to condemn his evil conduct. 
But no ; Savonarola felt like the apostles : 
"We ought to obey God, rather than 
men." 

The pope in those days was named Alex- 
ander. He too was very wicked, and he did 
not like to have the truth preached by the 
prior of Florence. He thought he would 
coax him to hold his tongue. He praised 
him and made him presents, and said, 



134 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

"These fools of people are not worth your 
preaching to." 

" They have souls to be saved, and it is 
my duty to teach them all the truth of 
God/' he replied. 

" Come, come/' said the pope ; " don't be 
obstinate, my friend. You are going a little 
too far. Talk as the rest of us do. Preach 
if you will, but preach like other folks. This 
stuff about the Bible is not meant for stupid 
people to hear. Obey me and I will give 
you a cardinal's hat." This was a splendid 
bribe. 

" My lord the pope," replied this good and 
brave man, " I ask no other or better hat than 
the martyr's crown." 

Those two friends, Sylvester and Dominic, 
were with him at Florence, and they felt as 
he did ; they were all ready to die for the 
Lord Jesus. 

Savonarola, amid all his cares, honors and 
dangers, did not forget his early home and 
his family. He wrote beautiful letters to 
them, asking them " to live only for sweet 
Jesus, who calls us to his kingdom." He 
calls his mother " dearest, most honored and 



GIBOLAMO SAVONAROLA. 135 

beloved." His sisters and his brother were 
never out of his mind; he told them that 
"he prayed for them morning, noon and 
night." 

So great was Savonarola's fame as a preach- 
er that people were willing to walk all night 
to get a standing-place to hear him in the 
morning. The people said he was a saint 
and a prophet ; he was so different from all 
other preachers whom they had heard that 
they believed him more than a man. His 
life was so pure, honest and simple, so much 
above the life of other monks, that they 
thought he must be an angel in human 
form. Never had these poor Italians lis- 
tened to such speaking. People said that 
to the penitent and humble his words came 
like gentle dew from the sky, while to the 
proud and vicious the sermons were like a 
sword or a fierce storm of hail and light- 
ning. 

He was a reformer. He wished to make 
the pope, the priests, the monks and the 
nuns better ; he wanted to bring the Church 
back to piety and truth. For this the Rom- 
ish Church hated him, as it hates all the 



136 THE BOY BY THE ARNO. 

truly pious who protest against its sins. The 
great men of the Church now resolved to put 
this good monk to death. He had been eight 
years preaching, and they would endure him 
no more. 

One evening, while the pious Savonarola 
and his monks were at prayers in the convent 
of St. Mark's, a fierce mob led on by priests 
came to the door. The monks locked and 
barred it, and with their prior kept on at 
their prayers. But the cruel mob battered 
down doors and windows and burned them, 
and at last got in and seized Savonarola. 
He begged permission to say some parting 
words to his monks. The mob let him speak 
a few moments. He closed by saying, " A 
Christian life consists in doing good and en- 
during evil." Sylvester and Dominic were 
carried off with Savonarola, and all three 
were put into a dungeon. Here they were 
kept for more than a month, and were treat- 
ed all this time with terrible cruelty. The 
worst things they could do to them only made 
them call to God, " Lord, receive our spirits." 
The pope and the priests now made up their 
minds to kill these three Christians. They 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 137 

condemned them to be hung and their bodies 
to be burned. 

On the day of their death their enemies 
took off their monks' clothes, saying, " Thus 
we strip you of earth and heaven." — " No," 
replied Savonarola; "you may strip us of 
earth — we do not care for that — but Jesus 
our Lord will surely grant us heaven. We 
fear not." They were then led out amid a 
great crowd to the public square of Florence ; 
when they came before the gallows Sylvester 
lost all fear and became very happy in his 
mind. He turned to his two friends, saying, 
" Now is the hour to be firm and to meet 
death with a glad face." They then knelt 
down and prayed. At once their cruel en- 
emies pushed them from the platform and 
killed each one of the three. They then 
burned the bodies, and finally gathered up 
the ashes of the fire and threw them into the 
fair river Arno. Thus, as I hope you re- 
member, the ashes of Wycliffe were thrown 
into the Avon and those of Huss into the 
Rhine. And, as has been said, the blood 
of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. 

If you go to Florence now you will see the 



138 THE BOY BY THE ABNO. 

convent of St. Mark's, and there they will 
show you the very dress they took from Sa- 
vonarola on the day when they killed him, 
and also two books of sermons and hymns 
which he wrote with his own hand. These 
are kept in a glass case, and the writing is 
quite plain. Thus Florence to-day honors 
the man whom four hundred years ago she 
hung and burned and whose ashes she cast 
away. Here are some verses he wrote : 

" Jesus, refuge of the weary, 
Object of the spirit's love, 
Fountain in life's desert dreary, 
Saviour from the world above ! 

" Jesus, would my heart were burning 
Evermore with love to thee ! 
Would my eyes were ever turning 
To thy cross of agony ! 

" Then, in glory parted never 

From the blessed Saviour's side, 
Graven on my heart for ever 
Be the cross and Crucified." 



VII. 

ONE OF THE SAINTS: 

THE STORY OF LUIGI DE SANCTIS. 



VII. 

ONE OF THE SAINTS: 

THE STORY OF LUIGI DE SANCTIS. 



ACROSS the sea, far off from us, on the 
other side of the world, is a fair land 
called Italy. It is a bright land, full of 
fruits and flowers and charming cities. I 
think if you could fly over it some day like 
little birds, you would say it was a sweet spot, 
and that you would like to live there. But 
it takes more than sunny skies, green fields 
and rich vineyards and gardens to make a 
land a happy home. For these many, many 
years Italy has been a sad place. It has been 
ruled by bad and cruel men ; there have been 
no free schools ; people have been forbidden 
to have the Bible, and have even been shut 
up in prison for reading it ; there have been 

141 



142 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

hardly any true churches or pious teachers, 
so the people have grown up in ignorance 
and sin, and these bring poverty. Thus 
Italy has been full of suffering and heart- 
aches. But lately God has been good to 
this forlorn country ; brave men have been 
rising up to take the power out of the hands 
of the cruel priests ; and I hope by the time 
that my little readers are men and women the 
schools and Bibles and freedom that they now 
have in Italy will have made it as great and 
happy as any land in the world. 

My last story was about a man who lived 
in Italy long, long ago. Now I am to tell 
you about a man who lived there very lately, 
who helped make Italy free, who knew many 
of the men now living, and who only died 
about two years since. This man's name was 
Luigi de Sanctis. What do you think Be 
Sanctis means ? Why, it means " one of the 
saints." Do you think that is an odd name ? 
It fitted this man very well. Do you know 
what a saint is ? A saint is a person who 
loves God and tries to please him. " Saint " 
means holy. God bids us all to follow after 
holiness. Those who are washed in the blood 



LUIGI DJEJ SANCTIS. 143 

of Jesus are saints in glory when they leave 
this world. Mind now, they are not angels : 
they are better than that ; they are saints. 
They sing the new song which angels may 
not sing — a song to the Lord Jesus : " Thou 
art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast re- 
deemed us to God." There is a little hymn 
you children sing in infant-class; it has a 
pretty tune, but I don't like it very well. 
You sing, " I want to be an angel." No, 
you don't; you want to be saints, saved 
souls, the children of Jesus ; and that is 
what I hope you will all be. This Luigi de 
Sanctis about whom I am telling you was truly 
one of God's saints; he loved and served the 
Lord in this world, and he has now gone to 
the world of light, Jerusalem the Golden. 

Luigi was born in the great city of Rome 
in the year 1808. Rome is a very famous 
city. It is built on seven hills beside the 
river Tiber. In the days of Jesus Christ 
people called Rome the queen of the whole 
earth. It is a very old city. Jesus was 
never there, neither was the apostle Peter; 
but Paul was there, and was shut up in 
prison, and was finally killed just outside 



144 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

of the gate of the city. At Rome are some 
of the finest churches and pictures and pal- 
aces in all the world. People of Italy are 
very proud of being born in Rome; they 
think that is a great honor. 

Luigi's parents were pretty rich. I am 
glad of that, and I hope they had a big 
house, for — what do you think? — they had 
twenty-four children ! Don't you suppose 
Luigi's mother must have felt like the " old 
woman who lived in the shoe, who had so 
many children she didn't know what to do" ? 
It must have been like a party at their house 
all the time. How did they ever get on with 
twenty-four boys and girls to be washed and 
dressed and get their breakfasts every morn- 
ing, to buy shoes and toys for, to teach their 
letters, to put to bed, and to fall down stairs 
and get into trouble generally? Mr. de 
Sanctis's house must have buzzed like a 
beehive. What fun! Don't you wish you 
had all been there to see? I cannot tell 
you about all these children ; some of them 
are dead, and some are living yet. But I 
know that one of them was wise and good 
and gentle, and that one was Luigi. 



LUIGI BE SANCTIS. 145 

Luigi's father, having so many children 
to provide for, made up his mind when 
each child was little what to do with it. 
He meant Luigi to be a priest. When the 
boy was quite small, therefore, he was sent 
to school to the monks, who were to teach 
him whatever they thought he ought to 
know. 

The monks had no trouble with their 
young pupil. He was civil and loving ; he 
minded what was said to him and liked to 
learn his lessons. The monks put on him 
a little black robe and cut his hair square 
about his head ; they gave him a string of 
black beads to say his prayers on, and a lit- 
tle prayer-book with a gilt cross on one side. 
Luigi counted his prayers by his beads, and 
when he had begun at the cross and counted 
all the beads, saying one or more prayers for 
each until he got to the cross again, he knew 
his prayers were done. He and some other 
boys who were to be priests stood up in a 
ring every night and said their rosary. 
Some of the boys hurried and laughed or 
were sleepy and forgot, but Luigi was an 

earnest boy, and he said his prayers with 
10 



146 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

all his heart. I am glad to tell you that 
one of these prayers was " Our Father which 
art in heaven/' and I think the boy felt 
something of what this dear prayer meant, 
and that God was indeed his Father and 
was leading him as if by the hand. 

The monks taught Luigi to read and to 
sing, and they also taught him Latin, for 
in Latin he must read whatever of the Bi- 
ble he had, and in Latin he must pray, and 
preach some also when he grew up. As he 
got older they had him dressed up in vari- 
ous fancy-looking white gowns and red and 
blue capes and little cornered caps, and he 
went into church with the priests, and sung 
prayers and waved censers of perfume about. 
He thought this was real worship of God, 
but one day he learned what true religion was. 

At last Luigi had finished his studies and 
was to be made a priest. A good many other 
young men were made priests at the same 
time. They aU went to a large church one 
morning, and a great crowd was there to see 
the sight; among the crowd were Luigi's 
father and mother, also some of his brothers 
and sisters, There were prayers and preach- 



LUIGI DE SANCTIS. 147 

ing ; then the young men, each wearing a long 
white robe, marched before a great cardinal 
dressed in red and gold who sat on a throne 
and had a pair of gilt scissors in his hand. 
Each young man knelt before this cardinal, 
who took his gilt scissors and cut four locks 
of hair from the young man's head. A little 
boy standing near caught these locks on a 
silver tray. Then the young man, after his 
hair was cut, rose up, bowed and went a little 
way on one side of the church, where he fell 
down on his face, spread out his arms and 
lay as if he were dead, until all the young 
men were lying thus, and the cardinal rose 
from his throne and said a prayer over them. 
This ceremony made the young men priests, 
and Luigi felt that it was very solemn, and 
that now he must be very pious and try to 
teach people exactly what was right. 

Luigi de Sanctis was so in earnest, so pure 
and humble in life, so fond of study and so 
kind of heart, that people could not help lov- 
ing him. He was a man whom God had 
made to do a good work, and for this he 
had been given noble gifts of mind and 
heart. He was a fine speaker and preacher, 



148 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

and the priests in Rome were quite proud 
of him. The pope liked him very much, 
and he was in a fair way to get a great deal 
of honor and money. But honor and money 
were not what Luigi de Sanctis cared most 
for. His heart was set on doing good ; the 
fear of the Lord was his ruling thought. 

He preached a while in convents, prisons 
and hospitals ; then he had one of the finest 
churches in the city of Rome given him, 
and he was priest there for eight years. 
After that he was thought to be so wise 
that they made him chief teacher in the 
great Catholic college. 

Let me tell you now how God led this 
man to leave the false Church of Rome. 
The Holy Spirit had filled the heart of 
Luigi with love to God. Those who love 
God love the Bible, and De Sanctis said to 
himself, " The Bible is the word of God ; it 
teaches all the mind and will of God ; what- 
ever it says must be right. Of course if my 
Church, the Church of Rome, is the true 
Church, it must agree with the Bible. But 
I know that my Church is the true and holy 
Church, and so, to be sure, it does agree with 



LUIGI BE SANCTIS. 149 

the Bible. I shall write a book to show how 
the Church of Rome and the word of God 
are exactly alike, and that thus both show 
and teach the real will of God." Full of 
this thought, De Sanctis began to write his 
book. His teachers had always made him 
study the books of his Church a great deal ; 
he knew very well what was in them. He 
had never been set to study the Bible much, 
and what he now needed was to find out what 
was in the Scripture, and match the Church 
books to that, just as you would match two 
spools of thread or sewing-silk. He quietly 
hunted up an old copy of the Scriptures ; it 
was a dusty, mouldy, dingy old copy, but for 
him it was to shine like gold and jewels. He 
read and read and thought, and a great terror 
filled him and his heart grew sick and ached, 
for the more he read the Bible the more he 
found that the Church of Rome has not the 
mind of God, does not do his holy will and 
does not teach what is in the Bible. This is 
what every one finds who studies the Bible 
and tries to match it with the books of Borne. 
This is what has brought so many really good 
men out of that Church— men like Luther 



150 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

and Huss and Calvin and others I have writ- 
ten to you about. 

As Luigi de Sanctis was thus reading and 
thinking, and while he was in great trouble, 
he had no one to speak to about his trouble. 
He dared tell none of the other priests ; in- 
stead of helping him, they would have locked 
him up in prison. All was dark to him. He 
asked himself where he should go and what 
he should do. If his own Church were wrong, 
was there . any Church that taught the truth 
as it is taught in the Bible and walked in the 
light of God? 

While he was thus unhappy God sent him 
help; and let me tell you how he sent it. 
At this time there was in the country of 
Greece an American missionary whose name 
was Jonas King. He was a good man. The 
prophet Jonah in old times did not like to 
speak the word of the Lord, but the mission- 
ary, Jonas King, loved to tell of Jesus ; he 
wanted all the wide world to hear. He wrote 
a little tract about faith in Jesus Christ, love 
to God, and the true way to serve him. This 
tract was printed in a good many languages, 
and some copies of it w T ere in Italian. A 



LUIGI BE SANCTIS. 151 

pious person who was visiting Rome carried 
some of these tracts, and one day, being out 
walking with a few in his pocket, the stran- 
ger slipped one under the front door of Luigi 
de Sanctis, the priest of the church of St. 
Maddalena. The man who had the tracts 
knew nothing of the poor aching heart of 
that priest. He just left the little tract and 
went away, and never knew that the small 
gift would be the very voice of God to a sad 
soul. Thus the Bible says, " Blessed are they 
which sow beside all waters ;" " Cast thy 
bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find 
it after many days." God says his word is 
like the rain and the snow that come down 
from heaven, and do not fail of their use, for 
they make the earth bring forth and bud, and 
furnish bread and corn for men. 

The servants in the priest's house could 
not read ; they found the " bit of paper " 
and carried it to their master's library. 
Here the wise professor saw it and read it 
through. Here he found the truth; this 
was the mind of Jesus; here was the 
thought of God's word. The man who 
wrote this must belong to the true Church 



152 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

of God, and this man was what Luigi de 
Sanctis had been taught to call " a heretic." 
Anyhow, he was a Christian, and De Sanctis 
made up his mind to be a heretic too if this 
were heresy. You know what the apostle 
Paul cried out to his people : " After the 
way which ye call heresy, so worship I the 
God of my fathers." 

Luigi de Sanctis now felt that Rome was 
no place for him. Here, as soon as he spoke 
his mind and told the truth as it is in Jesus, 
he would be put in prison. He must go 
where people were free to think and speak 
honestly. But oh, how he dreaded to go! 
He loved every brick and stone in that 
grand old city of Rome, where he had lived 
all his life. Here were his friends, here 
his relations who loved him ; but when once 
he had left them and become a heretic, they 
would hate him, and would never be friends 
to him any more. However, De Sanctis was 
resolved to give up all for Jesus' sake. He 
knew the Lord had said, "He that loveth 
house or lands, or father or mother, or 
brother or sister, more than me, is not wor- 
thy of me." He meant to be able to say 



LUIGI BE SANCTIS. 153 

like the apostles, " Lo, we have left all and 
followed thee." 

Luigi had two or three friends to whom 
he dared whisper his new feelings. One of 
them was Mr. Lowndes, an English gentle- 
man. This friend was to help him get away 
from Rome. No priest could leave that city 
without a permission written on a paper 
called a passport. De Sanctis put all the af- 
fairs of his church in order, and asked leave 
to go to Ancona, a seaport north-east of 
Rome. No one knew of the change in his 
feelings, and leave to go was freely given 
him. He was to travel in the private car- 
riage of Mr. Lowndes. I suppose the other 
priests thought this was his way of saving 
expense. Mr. Lowndes knew that Luigi 
was never to return to Rome or his Church. 
The two left Rome early on a September 
morning ; the sun was just rising, and the 
splendid city shone in the early rays. 
Luigi looked about on all the dear scenes he 
was leaving, and tears rolled over his face. 
He shut his eyes, leaned back in the carriage 
and cried to God to help him to do right. 
He felt that if God did not give him cour- 



154 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

age to go he would jump out of the carriage 
and run back to his friends, his Church and 
the beloved city, and never follow the truth 
any more. But Luigi had gone to the 
Strong for strength, and the Lord helped 
him. Mr. Lowndes saw De Sanctis weep, 
and pitied him ; he was silent until the car- 
riage was far out of sight of the city, and 
then he tried to help Luigi think how he 
was no longer a slave of Rome, but a free 
man in Christ Jesus. Already, Luigi had 
told two or three of his best friends how his 
heart had been changed, and that he meant 
to forsake his Church because he saw it was 
false to the Bible. One of these friends was 
Dr. Gavazzi. Very many of you children 
have seen Gavazzi ; he has just been through 
this country speaking and preaching. How 
do I know but some of you gave him money 
for his dear Italy ? and perhaps he took tea 
at some of your homes, or slept there. If 
so, you might have asked him about his 
old friend De Sanctis. 

By and by Mr. Lowndes and De Sanctis 
got to Ancona. There was a ship there 
bound for the island of Corfu, which lies 



LUIGI DE SANCTIS. 155 

off the coast of Turkey. De Sanctis now 
wrote a long letter to his chief friend at 
Rome, Cardinal Patrizi, telling him that he 
should never come back, but had left Rome 
to belong entirely to the Lord Jesus. He 
also wrote letters to his friends and relations, 
and told them how he wished them to divide 
his clothes, books and pictures, all of which 
he had left behind. He begged them to re- 
gard these his last requests, and dispose of 
what he had left as honorably as they would 
have done if he had died. He left these 
letters with Mr. Moore, the English consul 
at Ancona, and then he and Mr. Lowndes 
sailed for Corfu as fast as they could, so that 
none of the priests could overtake them. At 
Corfu, Mr. De Sanctis tried to find teaching 
or some work by which he might support 
himself, but there was nothing there for him 
to do. Therefore he again got on a ship and 
sailed for the island of Malta, which lies 
south of Sicily and belongs to England. 
Under the protection of the English gov- 
ernment he was safe, for England allows no 
man to be persecuted and put in prison on 
account of his religion. 



156 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

At Rome the pope and priests felt both 
sorry and angry that their wise and good 
friend had left them ; they wanted to get 
him back. They wrote him a long letter, 
telling him they loved him dearly ; that all 
Rome wanted to see him back; that if he 
would only return they would deny him 
nothing, but would do more for him than 
he could ask. This must have been a 
temptation, coming to a poor man who day 
after day was trying to earn a few shillings 
at Malta to keep him from being a beggar. 
He wrote back to his friends at Rome : " I 
have grieved to part with you, but I left 
your Church for the safety of my soul; I 
cannot live a lie. Rome does not allow the 
pure word of God. I now enjoy a peace I 
never could find among you. Come join 
with me if you may ; I never will return 
to you. In answer to all your promises and 
all your requests for me to return to Rome, 
I reply, before God who shall judge me at 
the last day, / cannot" 

They said no more to him for almost a 
year. Then one of the grand cardinals was 
sent to Malta to talk with him. One day the 



LUIGI BE SANCTIS. 157 

poor teacher in his shabby coat was walking 
on the public square of St. George, when 
he saw coming toward him his old friend 
Cardinal Ferretti, who had just landed in 
Malta, arrayed in all his glory. The 
crowds were admiring the splendid cardinal, 
who looked as fine as a peacock. How they 
opened their eyes when he rushed toward 
the humble teacher De Sanctis, caught him 
in his arms, kissed him on both cheeks and 
cried, " My friend ! my dear friend !" Luigi 
says that after this the people of Malta treated 
him a great deal better. It did not make him 
any better, that I can see, to have the cardi- 
nal hug and kiss him, but the people of Malta 
seemed to think it did. This is a very queer 
world ! Seven days the cardinal stayed in 
Malta trying to coax or hire Luigi to go 
back to Rome and be a priest once more. 
But no, the child of God will not sell his 
soul for any price — not for all the world. 

For five years De Sanctis lived in Malta 
and Geneva. He spent the time in wri- 
ting, preaching and teaching. He put all 
his heart into gospel-work, and of course, 
then, he was able to do a great deal of 



158 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

good. And what is more worth living for 
than to do good ? While in Malta, Dr. de 
Sanctis married a nice Scotch lady, who 
made his home very happy for him and 
who thought just as he did. He joined the 
Vaudois (or Waldensian) Church, and that 
is such a dear and noble Church that some 
day I must write you a story about it; I 
should be sorry not to have you know about 
that people of God. 

During these years changes of a good kind 
had come to Italy. Most of the land was now 
free, and people could no longer be killed or 
put in prison for serving God as they thought 
right. Rome was not so free, but most of the 
cities were, and among them Florence, the 
long-ago home of Savonarola. In Florence 
they had a Waldensian church and college, 
and a Christian newspaper called The Echo 
of the Truth. That is a very good paper to 
have in Italy, where the poor people have 
so long listened to the echoes of lies. Dr. 
de Sanctis was now invited to come back 
to Italy and take charge of that newspaper. 
He was very glad to do so, and went to 
Florence with his wife and children. 



LUIGI DE SANCTIS. 159 

Three years more passed, and then our 
good Luigi became a teacher in the college. 
He had taught in a college once before ; 
then he ignorantly taught the errors of 
Rome, but now he taught the pure relig- 
ion of Jesus Christ. He was very busy and 
happy in college teaching the young men, 
who loved him and looked on him as their 
father. Only two years of this glad life re- 
mained for him. One night he was taken 
very ill. The sad news went about the col- 
lege, and the students crowded to their dear 
master's room. He looked tenderly at them 
all, but could not speak. Then he turned 
his face toward his wife and whispered, " The 
time has come when we two must part." Af- 
ter these words he folded his hands over his 
breast, and his soul went away to be with the 
Lord Jesus ; from being one of God's saints 
on earth he had gone to be a happy saint in 
heaven. 

He is buried in Florence, and his friends 
have set over his grave a beautiful monu- 
ment of white marble. They treat good 
men better now in Italy than they did in 
Savonarola's time, when they burned them 



160 ONE OF THE SAINTS. 

and threw their ashes into the Arno. I ex- 
pect Savonarola was very glad to see De 
Sanctis when he got to heaven ; don't you 
think so? 

One of those who stood by Luigi de Sanc- 
tis's grave was Gavazzi. His friend was gone. 
He looked down on the coffin lying in the 
grave, and after saying a few words and 
praying, he cried out with tears, " Luigi, 
your brother who loved you in exile, and 
who loved you in our native land from the 
day you first learned of Jesus, bids you on 
earth farewell!" 



VIII. 

A HAPPY LIFE: 

STORY OF FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 
11 



VIII. 

A HAPPY LIFE: 

STORY OF FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 



I AM going to tell you this story of a happy 
life, because in the first place I know you 
all want to be happy, and then, in the next 
place, the person of whom I shall tell you 
was not happy in any strange or wonderful 
way — happy in a manner that will be im- 
possible to you ; but if you take his method 
you also can be as happy as he was. He was 
happy because he was good. Some children, 
and even grown folks, fancy that good peo- 
ple are dull and sad. Oh what a silly idea ! 
Children who have a good father are happy 
children, and the children of God have the 
best of all Fathers, and so, of course, they 
are happy. Why shouldn't they be ? What 

163 



164 A HAPPY LIFE. 

I shall write here for you is of course true. 
All these little stories are true stories; and 
about this one there can be no mistake, for 
this man left the history of his life written 
by himself; he had been so happy that he 
wanted to leave an account of what God had 
done for him. 

Our hero was named after the king of 
Prussia, Frederick William IV. ; his father 
was a village minister, and his name was 
Kkummacher. That is a long, hard Ger- 
man name, and you will perhaps find it a 
trouble to speak it. Never mind; I think 
you will know it when you see it; you notice 
it begins with a K. This boy was born on 
the banks of the river Rhine, the river 
which all Germans love so well. It was in 
the time of a great war, when the French 
were running over Prussia and having 
everything their own way. Soldiers were 
in every town, and almost in every house. 
When the children went into the garden or 
to school they saw cannon being dragged 
through the streets and soldiers pacing up 
and down as sentinels, and often a soldier's 
funeral, where the dead man was carried 



FREDERICK W. KRUM3IACHER. 165 

wrapped in the French flag, and all his 
friends came after, trailing their guns along 
the ground. But all this stir of war did not 
disturb the sunny childhood of little Frede- 
rick William. All was peace in his home. 
Every night the young brothers and sisters 
stood about their mother and sung a little 
hymn ; then they said their prayers and 
were safely tucked in their beds. They had 
plenty to eat and drink, plenty of clothes 
and good kind parents. These children 
were brought up to learn their daily lessons 
well, to be obedient and to love one another. 
After they had worked well they were ready 
to play joyously, and as their plays were not 
disturbed by loud cries, blows or harsh words, 
they went merrily on as long as playtime 
lasted. When I see little children who say 
they " don't have a good time playing/' I 
conclude that it is probably their own fault. 
They are like the children whom Jesus men- 
tions in the Bible, who were never satisfied 
with anything. Frederick's father was a 
man of a very happy, kindly temper ; he 
wanted all persons to enjoy themselves. He 
taught his children to be thoughtful for 



166 A HAPPY LIFE. 

others, and he was also thoughtful for them. 
Germans are fond of holidays, and usually 
keep a good many little family-festivals; 
they did so in this pastor's home. They 
kept all their birthdays, and the king's 
birthday too; on these days they made 
bouquets and wreaths to lay on the table, 
and had a holiday, a little feast of cakes and 
fruit and some speeches and songs. They 
kept New Year's Day also, with visits from 
their best friends and with good wishes all 
around, and then they celebrated Christmas 
with their whole hearts. Christmas was the 
great day of the year, after all. They had 
a Christmas tree, with presents for all the 
family, and they sang hymns about the 
" Christ Child " who came to earth a little 
babe lying in a manger. 

Besides a good father and a good mother, 
Frederick William had also to thank God 
for two good grandmothers, the mothers of 
his dear parents. These two old ladies were 
almost the best people that ever were seen. 
You know in the Bible we read about the 
boy Timothy who had a good grandmother 
named Lois, who taught him the Scriptures 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 167 

and who was full of simple faith and earnest 
love. Such women were these two grand- 
mothers of Frederick "William Krummacher. 
Of Grandmother Krummacher her minister 
wrote in this way : " Like a bright star she 
lights up the sky of her home; she lives 
in the good sunshine of God's holy truth, 
and in all her conduct shows a peaceful, 
childlike, Christian spirit." Should you not 
think the little children would have loved 
such a grandmother ? I dare say they often 
visited her, and they could not help remem- 
bering all the good things she taught them. 
Frederick William's other grandmother was 
just as good and lovable; and I don't see 
that a little boy could be much better off 
than he was in every way. 

The excitement of the great war gradually 
died out, and while Frederick was learning 
and growing, from a little child becoming a 
tall boy, all was quiet. But when he was 
old enough to be in the grammar school the 
war broke out once more, and oh, what a stir 
there was ! Boys of fifteen and sixteen 
wanted to be soldiers ; they thought nothing 
so fine as to march away to battle. Poor 



168 A HAPPY LIFE. 

fellows! they did not consider what hard 
times some soldiers have. The Krummacher 
boys were as wild as all the rest about sol- 
diering; they could hardly attend to their 
lessons. At their house there were generally 
several soldiers or officers boarding, and their 
talk about war and battles stirred up the lads 
wonderfully. Among those who were at the 
manse for a while were two, one of whom be- 
came a famous surgeon and the other a great 
general. The one who was afterward a gen- 
eral was quite conceited in his manners, and 
loved to dress finely and have plenty of per- 
fumery-bottles ; the pastor's boys, who lived 
and dressed plainly, thought this silly and 
odd, but they found that after all he was 
wise, brave and witty. Their father told 
them this would teach them not to judge 
according to the appearance. The pastor of 
course would not allow any of his boys to be 
soldiers. He told them they were too young 
and must attend to their studies. Out of 
school they played soldiers and built and 
captured forts in the garden. They loved 
to have concerts at home, and learned many 
songs to sing together ; they were also fond 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 169 

of reading, and in the evenings would sit 
about the table in the little parlor and read 
aloud. They did not get silly books and 
run through them once and then throw 
them aside, but their parents chose for them 
noble and useful books — histories and grand 
books of poetry — and they read them 
through again and again. I wish parents 
were always more careful what their chil- 
dren have to read. Children should have 
the right kind of books, and read them a 
number of times. You need not think I 
want you to have dull books. I like stories 
for children, if they are good stories well 
told ; and I think there are some very nice 
fairy-tales, and do not even despise Mother 
Goose ; there is a great deal to think about in 
that book if you only knew it. 

Another of the amusements of the Krum- 
macher boys and girls was to act among 
themselves the scenes they read of in books. 
They had in their garden a bower covered 
with vines and fitted with seats, and here 
they made believe to be all the famous folk 
they had read of, and acted out the events 
of their lives. They said that when they 



170 A HAPPY LIFE. 

grew up to be men they should be soldiers, 
but I am glad to tell you that when they did 
finally grow up there was no war — all was 
peace. Then, when this peace had come, 
when the German land was free of its foes 
once more, the boys had a chance to see how 
much better peace is than war. Homes were 
now full of happy faces ; there were no long 
lists of the killed in the papers, and there 
was no weeping about the doors of the post- 
office; whole families came together to the 
church, and again there were plenty of men 
to labor in the fields and to follow trades in 
the towns. The lads began to see that peace 
is a blessing from the Lord, and they did not 
now desire to be men of war. 

Frederick William got through his studies 
at the gymnasium or grammar school with 
much credit : his teachers praised his dili- 
gence, and he entered college with high 
honor. About this time his father moved 
to another home and church ; the reason of 
the change was this : The duke of Anhalt 
owned the town where they had lived, and 
the church was under his control. He was 
not a Christian man, and he said that Pastor 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 171 

Krummacher was getting too pious for him ! 
Did you ever hear of such a thing as that ? 
Can anybody be too pious ? I think not. In 
the next place, where Pastor Krummacher 
went there were some noblemen who were 
very pious men. They loved # God, and were 
not ashamed to own his name. Frederick 
William was often invited to their houses, 
and by their good advice and example he 
became more thoughtful about his soul and 
more anxious to lead a holy life. He was 
going to be a minister like his father, and 
these good friends often talked to him about 
what his duties would be, and how he should 
try hard to get the love of his people, old 
and young, that he might do their souls 
good. They told him he must not forget 
the little children. Jesus loved children; 
he says, " Take heed that ye despise not one 
of these little ones ;" also, " Suffer little chil- 
dren, and forbid them not to come unto 
me;" and he said to Peter, "Feed my 
lambs," meaning children. 

Frederick William was now in college, 
studying very hard. The Bible, however, 
was the book that he loved the best, and he 



172 A HAPPY LIFE. 

studied that the most. By study of the 
word of God he " grew in grace and in the 
knowledge of God." He chose also among 
the students some pious young men who 
were his chief friends. These men met 
often in a sort of Bible-class to study the 
Scriptures, pray and sing together. They 
were a very happy little company. By and 
by, having studied at Halle and Jena — 
places which you can find on the map if 
you look carefully — Frederick William was 
through his student-life and was made a 
minister. Soon after this he went home on 
a visit, and preached the next Sunday for 
his father. He preached about the miracle 
of the loaves and the fishes. Do you re- 
member that? You had better ask your 
mother to find it for you in the Bible, that 
you may read it. The old pastor liked his 
son's sermon very well ; after service they 
went into the garden and sat down, and the 
father gave the young minister some very 
good advice. He said : "It is not enough 
that you teach what is right to your people ; 
you must believe it with all your soul. You 
must have not only a general idea of the 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 173 

goodness of God, but you must feel that he 
is your very Father, and that Christ is your 
Saviour ; and you must have faith in him ? 
that you may be saved." I think this is ad- 
vice that will be as good for every one as it 
was for the new-made minister. 

Very soon after this Frederick William 
was called to the fine city of Frankfort-on- 
the-Main to help the old pastor who had care 
of the church there. Frankfort is a very de- 
lightful city ; it has many grand old stories 
connected with its palaces and castles; the 
climate is pleasant, and the people are very 
kind and well-educated. Our friend thought 
he could not have a better home than this. 
Besides the pleasure of living in so agreeable 
a place, Krummacher tells us that in Frank- 
fort he found two great blessings — a wife and 
a pious friend. The friend was the pastor of 
a French church in the city ; his name was 
Manuel. He was a very good man, and he 
and Frederick loved each other like two 
brothers. Krummacher writes: "I bless 
the Lord for giving me such a friend. He 
was my teacher in piety; more than any 
other man he made me know the evil of my 



174 A HAPPY LIFE. 

own heart, the power of the gospel and the 
glories of my Saviour. Oh, the days never 
to be forgotten which we spent together !" 
I want you to notice one thing: it is this, 
that Krummacher takes all his blessings 
and happiness as free gifts of the Lord, and 
is thankful for them. He does not feel as if 
he earned the good things he had, nor as if 
he had a right to them, but he takes them 
as the blessings of his Father in heaven. 
Thus he enjoys them more. We should 
pray for thankful hearts; God gives us a 
great deal for which to praise him. 

At Frankfort, as I told you, Mr. Krum- 
macher married. His wife was a very pious, 
happy, loving woman, and she helped him 
make and keep friends. 

Not long after this he was invited to go to 
a town called Ruhort. His friends said he 
had better go there, for there was no minister 
in the place, and he might be the means of 
doing a deal of good. I must tell you just 
here that Ruhort and the next two places 
where God sent Krummacher are among the 
most pious places in Germany. The people 
in these villages are famous for their Chris- 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 175 

tian way of life ; they make the service of 
God their chief object. You remember I 
have told you how poor the father of John 
Wesley was — that though he was a minister 
he was sent to jail for debt, and could hardly 
get food or clothes for his family ; and how a 
cruel person took away all his cattle and fowls 
to pay the rent. All this was because his peo- 
ple were not pious people, and did not love and 
honor the servant of the Lord. I wish you 
now to contrast this conduct with the man- 
ners of the pious German people among whom 
Krummacher lived* and you will see what a 
beautiful thing religion is — how it softens the 
heart and makes the life very lovely, and 
teaches us to act kindly to people. Indeed, 
I am quite sure you will say that these Ger- 
man people treated their young pastor better 
than the people in this country generally treat 
their ministers, and that it is quite a pity that 
we did not have some of their piety over here. 
I have known some ministers, especially home- 
missionaries, who were nearly as badly off as 
poor Mr. Wesley. I hope that when you boys 
and girls grow up and have your pockets full 
of money, you will give a large share of it to 



176 A HAPPY LIFE. 

poor ministers who are preaching the gospel 
out West, where they get hard fare and very 
little pay. 

But now I must tell you about Krum- 
macher and his wife when they went to Ru- 
hort. As they neared the town there, float- 
ing down the Rhine to meet them was a 
beautiful boat trimmed with flowers and 
flags, and people in it singing hymns and 
songs of welcome. Around this boat were 
smaller ones gayly painted and full of smi- 
ling people. The big boat held the ministers 
from all the churches near Ruhort, and the 
little boats had the people from Mr. Krum- 
macher's new church. The large boat took 
the young minister and his wife aboard, and 
then they merrily sailed up to Ruhort. Here 
they found the church and parsonage hung 
with flowers, the people making a holiday in 
their best clothes and bringing presents. All 
this to welcome a servant of God who came 
to preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Nor 
did the people end their kindness with one 
day of rejoicing. Mr. Krummacher says : 
" They took such good care that our house 
was supplied with food that we hardly ever 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 177 

had to buy meat or drink. They gave us 
freely of their best. When I said I would 
plant my garden with vegetables they said 
no, I must plant it with flowers, which would 
look the prettiest, for they would send us all 
the vegetables which we could use ; and so, 
in fact, they did. The kind people kept our 
birthdays, and came bringing us gifts and 
flowers ; they visited us on all holidays with 
gladness and singing, and in all ways showed 
that they deeply loved us." 

By and by, when a boy-baby came to the 
pastor and wanted a deal of milk, as boy- 
babies have a habit of wanting, these kind 
people marched up to the pastor's house 
bringing a fine cow, so that Master Baby 
could drink and grow as much as he pleased. 
I think that baby must have had a real jolly 
time at Buhort. 

Krummacher had here too especial friends 
who did him much good. You must notice 
now that he chose his friends not for wisdom 
or money or high station in this world, but 
for their piety. One of these chief friends 
of the minister in Buhort was a young man 
who drove horses for baggage-wagons along 

12 



178 J HAPPY LIFE. 

the river. He was a poor young man, but 
lie loved God, and his pastor was not 
ashamed to call him a dear friend. I hope 
you will follow this pastor's example and 
not be proud. The other particular friend 
was also very poor; he was a tailor; he had 
taught himself to read, and the Holy Spirit 
had entered into his heart and taught him 
the love of God. I must tell you a little 
about this tailor. He was quite a wonderful 
man. People said he was the holiest man in 
all that country ; his face was very mild and 
beautiful, and he was so gentle, so peaceful, 
so full of love to God and man, so prayerful 
and wise, that every one called him " the be- 
loved disciple," after the apostle John. No 
wonder that the pastor made this man his 
friend ; he said he learned a great deal more 
from these poor pious people than he did at 
college. You know James says in the Bible, 
"Hath not God chosen the poor of this 
world, rich in faith, and heirs of the king- 
dom which he hath promised to them that 
love him ?" Are you surprised that Krum- 
macher calls the years he spent at Ruhort, 
" sunshine years " ? 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 179 

From Ruhort he found it needful to go to 
Barmen. Barmen was even a more pious 
place than Ruhort; it is called the most 
godly place in all Germany. Krummacher, 
of course, did not think the people here 
without faults; we are none of us perfect 
in this world. But he found that they tried 
heartily to serve God, and he says of it that 
he knew of no place in Prussia where there 
was so much real, sound piety, and that " it 
might truly be called one of the streets of 
Jerusalem blessed above a thousand others." 
In Barmen and Elberfeld, Mr. Krummacher 
lived a long while, a great many years in- 
deed, until his little children had grown to 
be men and women. He says that in these 
places he does not think there was a house 
without at least one true Christian in it. He 
speaks of two brothers who were so tender 
and unselfish to each other and to all the 
world that it was said of them that no one 
ever knew them to say an unkind word or 
do an unkind deed. He tells us of a car- 
penter's family who were so generous, so 
happy and so full of sympathy, that every 
person in trouble went to them for comfort, 



180 A HAPPY LIFE. 

and always carne away feeling better. He 
says there was a rich man there who owned 
a great silk- factory, and who always remind- 
ed him of Abraham, because he lived among 
his people in such a godly, simple and fa- 
therly fashion. He tells of silk- weavers 
who were so pious in their lives that it 
seemed as if every day they were just putting 
the one hundred and twenty-eighth Psalm 
into deeds, and living it. Do you know 
that Psalm ? Suppose you get your Bible 
and read it ? It begins : " Blessed is every 
one that feareth the Lord and walketh in 
his ways." — "Peace was among us," writes 
the pastor, " and each day I was reminded 
of the words of Jesus : ' He that loveth me 
shall be loved of my Father ; and I will 
love him, and will manifest myself unto 
him.' " While here, Krummacher preached 
some very famous sermons on Elijah and 
Elisha, those noble old prophets of Israel, 
whose history you may read in your Bible 
in the books of Kings. These sermons were 
very famous and were put in a book. I 
suppose you will read them when you grow 
older. One day the king of Prussia, Fred- 



FREDERICK W. KRUMMACHER. 181 

erick William, visited Elberfeld and heard 
Krummacher preach. He liked the sermon 
and loved the man. "When he went home 
he wrote for Mr. Krummacher to come and 
live in the city of Berlin and preach to the 
king's household every Sabbath. An invi- 
tation from a king is the same as a com- 
mand, and so Krummacher went. Besides, 
he loved the king very much and was glad 
to be near him. The king and the pastor 
were great friends. Krummacher felt very 
homesick and sad at Berlin, because the peo- 
ple were not as pious as in his dear home at 
Barmen, but he says this trouble drove him 
closer to God in prayer. But he soon 
found many friends among good and great 
men — men who were wise and pious — and 
he says that he was very happy then. In- 
deed, he often tells how easy and happy his 
whole life was, and he thanks God for it 
very heartily. He was not happy merely 
because he was a famous preacher and the 
friend of the king, for you know he was hap- 
py before he was famous or had ever seen the 
king. He was happy because he served God 
and chose the children of God for his friends. 



182 A HAPPY LIFE. 

One great comfort he had was, that he 
had never lost any of his five brothers and 
sisters ; they all lived as long as he did, and 
each time their father's birthday came, even 
after the old pastor was dead, his children 
met together as a family to remember and be 
thankful for their dear parent. 

One very prominent feeling in this man 
was love for his country. He held the Ger- 
man fatherland very dear; he was a true 
patriot. Krummacher died quite suddenly, 
but very happily. His daughter says he 
called his children about him " with a coun- 
tenance radiant with love and goodness, and 
if possible even more affectionate than usual." 
Before many hours had passed his happy 
life on earth was changed for the happy life 
in heaven. 



IX. 
THE SINGER AND SAILOR: 

THE STORY OF JOHN NEWTON. 



IX. 

THE SINGER AND SAILOR: 

THE STORY OF JOHN NEWTON. 



YOU know I have told you how, when in 
England there was very little piety or 
care for religion, God put it into the hearts 
of George Whitefield and the Wesley broth- 
ers to begin earnestly to preach the gospel. 
A new feeling spread over the land ; men be- 
gan to care for their souls, and parents were 
more careful to teach their children the fear 
of the Lord. Among those whose hearts the 
Lord had thus touched was a woman named 
Newton. Her husband was a sailor, the cap- 
tain of a ship which traded in the Mediter- 
ranean Sea ; he was not a good man, and he 
was often away from home for months at a 
time. Mrs. Newton had one only child, a 

185 



186 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

boy named Johist. She was very fond of 
him, and took care to teach him all the good 
she knew. She had him learn early to read, 
and she was careful to teach him the West- 
minster Catechism, which I hope you all 
learn. John was a bright boy, and never 
forgot what he learned ; the verses of Scrip- 
ture and the prayers which his good mother 
taught him sank deep into his heart, and, for 
all he seemed to grow careless of them, they 
were as seed that lies hid in the earth, which 
by and by grows and shoots up, first a little 
green leaf, and then a stalk, and then bears 
great ears of corn. 

John led an innocent and happy life with 
his dear mother until he was almost twelve 
years old. Then, alas! that good woman 
died, and her child had now no pious friend 
and teacher. When Captain Newton came 
home after his wife's death he said he did 
not know what to do with John unless he 
took him to sea with him. John liked this 
plan very much. Most boys think it fine 
fun to go to sea — they forget the dangers 
and hardships — but when they try a sailor's 
life they are apt to wish they had remained 



JOHN NEWTON. 187 

at home. You will see how John Newton 
found that sea-going is anything but easy 
or amusing. 

Captain Newton questioned John about 
his studies, and thought that he knew 
quite enough ; he was a rough man, and 
said that " book-learning was of small value 
anyhow." There was another kind of wis- 
dom which he did not esteem, and that was 
heavenly wisdom, the fear of the Lord God. 

In a short time, accordingly, John set off 
in the ship with his father. They went 
south, across the Bay of Biscay, and through 
the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterra- 
nean Sea. John had an opportunity of vis- 
iting foreign lands and strange cities, and if 
he had wanted to acquire knowledge he might 
have learned a good deal. Of course for a 
long while he was seasick, and suffered a good 
deal ; his father only laughed at him. He 
was afraid to climb the tall masts and be out 
on deck in terrible storms, but he was obliged 
to learn to endure it. The cold, the wet clothes, 
the close, hot place to sleep, the nights when he 
was obliged to be on deck and could not sleep 
at all, were all very hard for him, as was also 



188 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

the coarse sailor's fare which, he must learn to 
eat. But worse than all this was the great 
wickedness about him. The sailors drank 
a deal of whisky, and got tipsy and fought ; 
they also swore a great deal, and played 
cards and cheated each other out of money ; 
so that indeed there was hardly any sin which 
they did not commit, and they had no fear of 
God before their eyes. As for the Sabbath, 
that was not kept at all. At first this wick- 
edness frightened John ; he had his Bible and 
Catechism and a few good books which had 
been his mother's, and he tried to keep by 
himself, to read these books and live as he 
had done at home. He knew his dear moth- 
er was in heaven, and he often longed to meet 
her in that blessed place. His father and the 
sailors laughed at what they called his piety ; 
they made a mock of his praying and Bible- 
reading, and said that he would never be half 
a man. 

Little by little John ceased to pray, to read 
his Bible or keep the Sabbath, and I am sorry 
to have to tell you that at last he could drink 
and swear and sing bad songs and be as wick- 
ed as the rest. 



JOHN NEWTON. 189 

But you know that God has put within us 
a voice called conscience. Conscience tells 
us when we have sinned and warns us when 
we are about to do wrong ; if we commit evil, 
conscience troubles us and makes us sad. 
This is what makes the little child who has 
disobeyed or told a lie so restless and sorrow- 
ful. We should always try and listen to this 
voice in our souls ; to go on stubbornly and 
refuse to forsake and confess our sins when 
conscience has warned us is called in the 
Bible "hardening our hearts." Pharaoh, 
the bad king of Egypt, hardened his heart, 
and so did Saul, and the end was, you know, 
that they were quite destroyed. 

John Newton had a conscience, and it dis- 
tressed him on account of his sins. He 
would think how much happier he had been 
when he lived honestly as his mother had 
taught him ; he feared he would never see 
his mother any more — that he would die in 
sin and not get to heaven ; and he felt how 
grieved his good mother would have been if 
she had known how bad a boy her dear only 
son would come to be. After such thoughts 
John would make up his mind to be better. 



190 THE SINGER AND SAILOR 

Now I must tell you of two errors into 
which he fell when he tried to reform. The 
first was, that he tried to be good in his 
own strength ; he did not ask help of God. 
When we do not get strength from God we 
are sure to fail, sooner or later. The other 
mistake that he made was, to suppose he 
could earn the love of God and get to heav- 
en by certain good works which he would 
do. He forgot or did not know that we 
must have faith in the merits of Jesus — 
that the best we can do is unholy in the 
sight of God, and we can be saved only by 
the righteousness of the Saviour. When 
John Newton made two such great mistakes 
you may be sure he did not succeed in his 
efforts to make himself good ; after a time 
he failed. But this trying showed that his 
conscience was tender, and that the Holy 
Spirit was speaking to his soul. Once for 
two years he tried to live a pious life; he 
left his evil companions and ways, and was, 
as he says, almost afraid to smile or speak 
for fear he should commit sin. He had a 
wrong idea of God and his laws, you see. 
God likes to have us be happy and smiling, 



JOHN NEWTON. 191 

and to use our tongues in a proper way. 
But poor John Newton was trying to earn 
heaven for himself, and he had a very hard 
time of it. After trying so long to be good 
he fell back into his bad ways ; he read a 
bad book which made him doubt the truth 
of the Bible, and he grew worse than ever. 
Of this part of his life he has written this 
verse : 

" In evil long I took delight, 
Unawed by shame or fear." 

In one of his visits to London he became 
acquainted with a good young woman named 
Mary. After this he tried to avoid evil 
ways, fearing this pious girl should dislike 
him. He said he wished to live so that 
Mary would not think badly of him after 
he was dead. He, however, led a very hard 
life for some time, and finally went to some 
islands off the coast of Africa, and became 
servant to a very cruel and evil man who 
sold slaves to the English ships. This was 
before Wilberforce had succeeded in indu- 
cing the English to stop the slave-trade. 
In fact, John Newton was so used to seeing 
black people taken prisoners and sold for 



192 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

slaves that he really saw no harm in it. He 
knew that it was wicked to swear or to be 
drank, but he did not know that it was 
wicked to steal and sell human beings. The 
truth was, he had been so brought up that he 
did not look on black folks as if they had 
the feelings of other people, and he did not 
know how to treat them. "While he lived 
on the Plantain Islands he was often very 
sick with fever ; his master treated him most 
cruelly, and he had so few clothes that when 
ships stopped there he used to run into the 
woods and hide because he was ashamed to 
be seen. His only comfort was to take some 
books he had and go down to the seashore 
by himself and study. He used the hard 
white sand for a slate, and drew lessons on it 
with his fingers or a long shell. 

After some time his father heard where he 
was, and sent him word to come home to 
England. At first he was ashamed to go, 
but he began to think of Mary, and to want 
to see her so much that he made up his mind 
to go home. He went on board the ship 
which had brought his father's letter, but 
vessels did not make quick voyages in those 



JOHN NEWTON. 193 

days, and for a whole year the ship sailed 
along the coast of Africa, getting ivory, gold- 
dust, ostrich-feathers and spices for a cargo. 
Then, instead of going to England, it made 
a trip three months' long to the coast of 
Newfoundland on the American continent. 
At last, on the first day of May, they left 
Newfoundland and sailed for England. On 
this day John Newton, not knowing what to 
do with himself, took up a book about Christ 
to read, and it made him think with shame 
and grief of his bad life. As usual, he went 
to bed without any prayer ; in the night a 
furious storm rose, and John was awakened 
by the noise of huge waves breaking over 
the vessel; and one of them rushed down 
the stairs and flooded John's bed, and nearly 
filled the cabin with water. Every one 
hurried now to try and save the ship. They 
pumped the water out and furled the sails, 
and some cried and some prayed. At first, 
John Newton was bold and joked, and said 
he did not care, but the storm rose worse and 
worse, and he did begin to care a great deal. 
By and by the captain came near, and John 
said, " If what we are doing to stop up this 

13 



194 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

leak in the ship does not do, then may the 
Lord have mercy upon us I" After the 
captain passed on John began to think, 
" What mercy can the Lord have for such a 
bad fellow as I am? The Bible must be 
true, for my dear mother died happy believ- 
ing it, and it made her a good woman. Ah, 
I am indeed not ready to die." 

After some days the storm ceased, and the 
half-wrecked ship went on her way. Sol- 
emn thoughts did not leave John ; he set 
himself to call on God for pardon and for 
help to lead a better life. He beheld Jesus 
as the Saviour of sinners, and he asked him 
to be his Saviour and wash away all his sins. 
Of this he writes in one of his hymns : 

" I saw my sins his blood had spilt, 

And helped to nail him there ; 
A second look he gave, which said, 

' I freely all forgive ; 
This blood is for thy ransom paid ; 

I die that thou mightst live.' " 

When at last the vessel reached England, 
Newton says that he was " a new man, hav- 
ing begun to know that there is a God who 
hears and answers prayer." After all his 



JOHN NEWTON. 195 

sins and sorrows he was now happy in the 
Lord. About these glad days he wrote a 
very pretty hymn. Part of it is this: 

" Sweet was the time when first I felt 
The Saviour's pardoning blood 
Applied to cleanse my soul from guilty 
And bring me home to God, 

" Soon as the mom the light revealed, 
His praises tuned my tongue, 
And when the evening shades prevailed, 
His love was all my song," 

John Newton was about as fond of writing 
hymns as the two Wesley brothers. He was 
a singing Christian,, He loved to sing and 
to make verses, and he kept on singing the 
goodness and grace of God all his life. 

John Newton wrote the story of his own 
early life and conversion. He said he want- 
ed to show how great is the mercy of God, 
who saved so great a sinner as he had been. 
He did not try to make himself out one bit 
better than he was. He was a humble man. 
Some people can never quite own that they 
have done wrong, but John Newton was 
ready, like St. Paul, to call himself "the 
chief of sinners." 



196 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

After John had visited his father and 
friends at Liverpool he became mate of a 
ship sailing to Africa. After the first voy- 
age he was made captain, and then he mar- 
ried his dear Mary. She always had a good 
influence over him, and made his home very 
happy. For twelve years John Newton con- 
tinued to sail from England to Africa; he 
made a good deal of money, and did not 
know that he could have any other business. 
He kept on making hymns and tried to serve 
God. He had many hours of leisure on board 
his ship, and these he spent in study. On his 
return from one of his voyages he was very 
ill, so that he could not go to sea any more. 
He then remained on shore, busy in landing 
goods and seeing to the unloading of vessels. 
At this time he became acquainted with George 
Whitefield and the two Wesley brothers, and 
was a great friend to them. He attended their 
preachings, and felt as if he would like to be- 
come a preacher himself and tell men what 
the Lord had done for his soul. 

He had been so faithful in study that he 
was fit to be made a minister, and he was 
sent to a little church in a village called 01- 



JOHN NEWTON. 197 

ney. He was paid very little — only about 
two hundred dollars a year — but he did not 
mind that ; what he wanted was to preach 
the word of God. Olney is not a pretty 
place ; it is poor and dull, and the worst of 
it was that the people did not care for re- 
ligion. A famous poet named Cowper lived 
there, and he was a dear friend of John New- 
ton. Together they wrote a book of hymns 
meant for prayer-meetings, and they named 
the book from the place, The Olney Hymns; 
maybe they are in your grandmother's book- 
case : I think you will find them in a little 
dingy book bound in brown leather. In the 
" True Story Library " you know I wrote 
you the story of Tom Scott, who wrote a 
commentary on the Bible'. Do you recol- 
lect that I told you he was a minister in Wes- 
ton, a village two miles from Olney, and that 
he liked to go to hear John Newton preach, 
and that he learned from Newton the peace 
and truth of God? Newton loved Olney 
very much, though other people might think 
it dreary. Besides the hymns, Newton wrote 
several other books, and many letters to good 
people. Perhaps he did even more good by 



198 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

his writings and his hymn-singing than by 
his preaching. Very likely you haye often 
heard his hymns sung in church. Do you 
remember the one beginning, " Glorious 
things of thee are spoken/' or " How sweet 
the name of Jesus sounds !" or " Come, mv 
soul, thy suit prepare " ? All these were 
written by Newton. It might be a good 
plan for you to learn some of them. 

After John Newton had been some years 
at Olney he was invited to go to London, to 
the church at St. Mary's Woolnoth. Here 
he was very useful and very happy. He 
wrote no more hymns, but he did a great 
deal of good. While here he became ac- 
quainted with Wilberforce, who visited him 
to ask his advice, and who learned to love 
him very much. When Wilberforce was 
trying to get a law made against the slave- 
trade he got advice from Newton, who knew 
so much about it, and he got John Newton 
to go before the House of Lords and tell all 
that he knew of the cruelty and danger of 
that trade. If you will stop to think a little, 
you will see how many of the great and good 
men of whom I have written for you knew 



JOHN NEWTON. 199 

John Newton. Let us see if you remember 
them : John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George 
Whitefield, Thomas Scott and William Wil- 
berforce. I hope you do not forget what I 
told you about all of them. The lives of 
such men are of use to us to set us good ex- 
amples, and to show us how an honest, ear- 
nest spirit may overcome difficulties ; also, 
how much good one man can accomplish who 
really tries. You must also notice how love 
to God brings love to man, and how the true 
Christian makes the world better for his liv- 
ing in it. To John Newton came not only 
the poor and distressed, but those who were 
anxious to learn to do God's will. His house 
was always open, and he never said he was 
too tired or too busy to listen to the story of 
troubles and to comfort the sorrowing. 

John Newton lived to be a very old man ; 
he was eighty-two. That is a great age. He 
preached as long as he lived. He grew for- 
getful as he grew old, so that sometimes, when 
he was preaching, he would forget what he was 
talking about, and some one in the pulpit with 
him would have to remind him what he was 
preaching about. His friends said to him, 



200 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

" Mr. Newton, you have preached a great 
many years, and have done a great deal of 
good. Suppose that you rest now ; you are 
old and worn with labor." But the braye 
old man would answer, " No, no ; I shall 
preach just as long as I live. Remember 
what a wicked youth I was. Shall an old 
African swearer stop telling of the goodness 
of his Saviour? Oh no! I owe the Lord 
all my life, and I mean he shall have it all, 
every day of it." He was now too old to go 
abroad much in the streets. He could get to 
church, and that was about all ; but he sat in 
his easy-chair at home and talked to the 
crowds of people who came to him for ad- 
vice or comfort. He was hardly ever alone. 
The attention shown him did not make him 
proud. He was called by other people " the 
true servant and trusty soldier of the Lord 
Jesus Christ," but in his own eyes he was 
little and weak. Such a meek, childlike 
spirit is very dear to God. 

By and by this old minister was very ill, 
so that he could not leave his bed. His 
nurse and doctor said to him, "Mr. New- 
ton, you are very sick, and you cannot live 



JOHN NEWTON. 201 

much longer." He looked up with a smile 
and said gently, " I am satisfied with all my 
Lord's will." The Bible says, " I shall be 
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness ;" and 
so was John Newton when he awoke in the 
likeness of his Master. We are told that in 
heaven we shall be like Jesus, because " we 
shall see him as he is." When Moses talked 
with God on Mount Sinai his face shone like 
the sun, and when he got down from the glo- 
rious mountain among the people he had to 
put a veil on his face, because it dazzled the 
Jews. So those who reach heaven and live 
in the presence of their dear Saviour will 
shine like the stars for ever and ever. 

You may be sure that John Newton had 
many sad hours when he thought of his 
wicked and ill-spent youth. You need none 
of you feel that you can afford to do wrong 
when you are young, and that you will "come 
out all right by and by." Oh no ! Suppose 
you should be cut off in your sins. And then 
it is not often that a bad boy becomes a good 
man. We are told, " Remember thy Creator 
in the days of thy youth." That is the time 
to serve God. Then we shall not be forced 



202 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

in after years to sit down and weep over the 
way in which we offended our heavenly Fa- 
ther and led our fellow-creatures into sin. 

I have heard of a pious old man who had 
only given his heart to God when he was old. 
He used to sit looking very sad, and when 
friends would say, " Dear sir, what is the 
matter with you?" he would answer, " Oh, I 
am thinking how I only gave the dregs of 
my life to Jesus. Christ died for me, and I 
only gave the last of my life to him. I 
waited until I was too old to be of any use 
in the world, and then I came to Jesus. Oh, 
I am always thinking of the good I might 
have done and did not do." When boys 
and girls came to talk w T ith him this old 
man would say, "Children, follow Jesus 
early; don't throw away the best part of 
your lives serving Satan." I want all my 
little readers to follow that advice. 

I shall now write out for you one of John 
Newton's hymns, that you may learn it. It 
tells the sweet story of Jesus' love for sin- 
ners — a love that led him to leave the glory 
that he had with the Father, to become the 
babe of Bethlehem, a little child in a hum- 



JOHN NEWTON. 203 

ble home in Nazareth, a poor man of sorrows, 
acquainted with grief, and finally to die on 
the cross of Calvary for our redemption: 

" One there is above all others 

Well deserves the name of Friend ; 
His is love beyond a brother's, 
Costly, free, and knows no end. 

" Which of all our friends to serve us 
Could or would have shed his blood ? 
But this Saviour died to have us 
Reconciled in him to God. 

" When he lived on earth abased, 

' Friend of sinners ' was his name ; 
Now, above all glory raised, 
He rejoices in the same. 

" Oh for grace our hearts to soften ! 
Teach us, Lord, in truth to love; 
We, alas ! forget too often 

What a Friend we have above." 

Yes, Jesus is the Friend of sinners, and es- 
pecially the children's Friend. He himself 
said to his disciples, " Suffer the little chil- 
dren to come unto me, and forbid them not : 
for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily 
I say unto you, Whosoever shall not re- 
ceive the kingdom of God as a little child, 
he shall not enter therein. And he took 



204 THE SINGER AND SAILOR. 

them up in his arms, put his hands upon 
them, and blessed them." Do not fear to 
go to him with all your little troubles ; he 
is even kinder than a father or a mother. 
Tell him how hard it is to be good, and ask 
him to help you. He will surely do it. 



X. 

A TRUE HERO : 

THE STORY OF EOGEE MILLER. 



A TRUE HERO : 

THE STORY OF ROGER MILLER. 



ONCE there was a boy in England named 
Roger Woods Miller. He had a sis- 
ter and brother older than himself. His 
mother was not a pious woman, and was 
also rather idle, and his father was a very- 
bad man. As you may suppose, this family 
were very poor. The parents never tried 
to teach their children anything, and at last 
the father ran away and left his family to 
starve or get on the best way they could. 
You would not imagine that a boy left in 
this way would ever grow up to be a great 
hero in doing good, would you ? But you 
know the Lord is able to take care of peo- 
ple in any place ; and I think he let Roger 

207 



208 A TRUE HERO. 

Miller have these troubles in his early life 
in order that he might know how to pity the 
unhappy, and also know the best way to 
reach their hearts and homes. Having been 
so unfortunate himself, he would not be like- 
ly to despair of any one. When Roger's 
father ran away his poor mother put her two 
boys in the workhouse, because she could not 
take care of them. Though Roger was only 
six years old, he was put in the calico-print- 
ing works of a Mr. Turner. This was a 
place where they printed the figures on 
calico. After a year the masters of the 
workhouse sent Roger to another factory 
about ten miles off. Here the owner made 
Roger work very hard, and was very cruel 
to him ; he hardly got enough to eat, his 
clothes were rags and he was kept busy all 
day Sunday. He had no church or school, 
and was as miserable as a boy could be. 
This master wanted to get Roger bound to 
him until he was twenty-one. The poor boy 
was sharp enough to see that thirteen years 
of a slavery such as this would be the ruin 
of him. He had no friend but his mother, 
and she lived twenty miles off, in Manchester. 



ROGER MILLER. 209 

If once the papers were made out binding 
Roger, he could not get away from his mas- 
ter. He made up his mind to run away and 
get to his mother. Every morning he was 
sent two miles and a half to bring milk. On 
the day when he was to be bound he rose 
early, hid a shirt and a pair of shoes and 
socks in his milk-pail, and set off as if for 
milk. The cook laughed and said, " Roger 
is in a hurry ; he wants to get that new suit 
of clothes and the two shillings the masters 
of the workhouse are to give him when he is 
bound." 

The little boy, as soon as he was out of 
sight of the house, hid the pail under a bush 
and set out at the top of his speed on the 
road to Manchester. He had had no break- 
fast, and he was so young and weak that the 
first day he only got so far as Mr. Turner's 
print-works, where he had once been hired. 
Here he met a good-natured workman who 
knew him, and to this man he told his story. 
" Poor lad ! thee has a hard life," said the 
man ; " sit down and eat this bit of bread 
and cheese." While Roger was eating the 
man told him that he would take him into 

14 



210 A TRUE HERO. 

the factory and hide him under a table cov- 
ered with a blanket, where he could sleep 
all night, but he must lie very still or the 
watchman of the factory would find him and 
turn him out as a thief. Roger promised 
that he would be perfectly quiet and not be 
afraid. He was so tired that he slept well, 
and in the morning the kind man brought 
him a good warm breakfast and some food to 
carry with him on his way. The next night 
he slept in a hayloft, having asked leave of 
the farmer who owned it. It took the poor 
boy two days and a half to get to Manches- 
ter ; there he kept asking after his mother, 
and by evening found out where she and his 
sister lived. He made haste to the house, 
and found his sister sweeping the doorstep. 
He called her, she looked about, and saw a 
very dirty and ragged boy standing near. 
She said, " Who are you, and what do you 
want here?" Tears ran over his little 
grimy face as he replied, (( Elizabeth, don't 
you know Roger ?" The sister ran into the 
house shouting, " Mother, here is our Roger. 
He is not dead; he has come to find us." 
Word had been sent to his mother that he 



ROGER MILLER. 211 

had left his master, and she thought he was 
dead, and now was crying within the house. 

The mother and sister heard his pitiful 
story with many tears. They took him in, 
and the first business was to make him de- 
cent. They washed him, cut his hair, and 
found his clothes so dirty and ragged that 
they threw them into the fire. His mother 
then put him in bed, having given him some 
supper, and went out to buy him some de- 
cent clothes. She did not know how need- 
ful it is for boys and girls to learn to read and 
write, and she felt as if she could not live 
without this poor little lad's earnings ; so in 
a day or two she got him a place in a factory, 
where he could earn about fifty cents a week. 
That was small wages and hard work. It was 
also very dangerous ; the children were sick- 
ly, and often hurt in the machinery. In 
those days children worked fourteen hours 
a day in factories, and hardly any children 
in the world were so badly off as the English 
factory-children. Since then better laws 
have been made ; they do not let such 
young children work, and they have fewer 
hours, more wages and better rooms. Rog- 



212 A TRUE HERO. 

er's factory-room was about as bad as a jail 
for him. Here he toiled until he was ten 
years old. His sister then married, and his 
mother went off. He was earning a dollar a 
week, and had to take care of himself as well 
as he could with that. One of the first 
things he did was to find a Sunday-school 
and church for himself. He had never been 
taught anything, but he wanted to be able to 
read. He loved the Sabbath-school very 
much, and was so diligent and careful that 
he soon learned to read, and then set about 
learning to write. 

The teaching he received at the Sunday- 
school kept him from falling into bad habits, 
and his industry in learning to read and write 
held him back from idle and wicked company. 
From the first of his going to Sabbath-school 
he took a great interest in missions, and said 
he would love to be a missionary ; he had 
such a pity for the poor and ignorant that he 
longed to work for them. You know he 
could tell how they felt from having suf- 
fered himself. 

When Roger was fourteen he left the fac- 
tory and went to learn printing, but in three 



ROGER MILLER. 213 

years his master lost his money and his busi- 
ness, and Roger had now nothing to do. He 
had saved a little money, and he set up a bar- 
ber-shop. He was tidy and civil, and made 
out pretty well. You know that barbers 
often keep their shops open on Sunday. In 
Manchester, where Roger lived, they always 
did so, and made more money on that day 
than on any other. Roger at first kept his 
shop open like the rest. About this time he 
was made a teacher in the Sabbath-school 
where he had been for so many years, and 
now he felt that it was high time for him to 
seek the Lord. He thought that if he want- 
ed his pupils to love Jesus he must set them 
an example ; he must be able to tell them 
" what a dear Saviour he had found." One 
of the first duties that he thought of per- 
forming after his heart had been changed 
was the keeping of the Sabbath Christ 
says, " If ye love me, keep my command- 
ments;" and you know one of the command- 
ments is, " Remember the Sabbath day, to 
keep it holy." Roger made up his mind to 
keep the Sabbath holy ; he told his custom- 
ers not to come to him on Sunday. This 



214 A TRUE HERO. 

should have made every one like him better; 
and indeed, if this were a made-up story, 
you would hear how Roger prospered at once 
when he began to do right. But people are 
not always rewarded immediately for well- 
doing in this world. Trouble was all Roger 
got for some time. When he gave out plain- 
ly that he would " do none but the Lord's 
work on the Lord's day," his customers be- 
came angry, and told him that if he would 
not wait on them on Sunday they would not 
come to him at all. Day after day his trade 
became less, and he wondered where he would 
get money for his rent. What I am about 
to tell you must teach you the great danger 
of doing one wrong act, and also that when 
we see a duty plainly we should not try to 
escape from doing it on the advice of any 
one. Roger Miller was very anxious about 
his loss of business; the Lord was trying 
him to make him a better man ; but Roger 
got very much discouraged and turned from 
the path of duty. 

He went one day to talk with a man who 
he thought was a Christian, but who really 
had very little religion about him. This 



ROGER MILLER, 215 

man advised him to keep his shop open on 
Sunday. That was very bad advice, exactly 
against the Bible. The man said, " You must 
live. The Lord doesn't mean you to starve or 
give up an honest trade. Do as other people 
do. If you don't keep your shop open, some 
one else will. Folks are bound to be shaved 
on Sunday ; it is a custom. You can keep 
the shop open Sunday morning, and in the 
evening you can go to church." This was 
all very wrong talk. The Bible tells us not 
to do evil that good may come, and it says, 
" Trust in the Lord and do good ; so shalt 
thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt 
be fed." The Bible does not say that we are 
to keep part of the Sabbath holy, but all of 
it, from the moment when we wake until we 
fall asleep again at night. 

Now I will show you the great danger of 
disobeying God. Roger Miller listened to 
the evil advice of his friend. The Bible says, 
" We ought to obey God rather than man," 
but Roger in this case obeyed man rather 
than God. He opened his shop on the Sab- 
bath. He meant to shut it in the evening 
and go to church, perhaps also to Sabbath- 



216 A TRUE HERO. 

school in the afternoon ; but how little do we 
know how fast and how far we shall go in a 
wrong path ! Roger now had about his shop 
an idle set of Sabbath-breakers, and with 
them he began to go out for frolics on Sun- 
day evenings. Once he had kept a little box 
with a hole in the lid, and in this he had 
saved part of his money to give to the aid of 
missions. But now Roger used up all his 
money in folly ; he cared nothing for church 
or Sabbath-school; he forgot God, and did 
not care whether there were any missions 
for the poor or not. 

One of the first results of his evil life was 
that he married a godless young woman who 
cared nothing for religion. I shall not tell 
you of the next few years of Roger Miller's 
history. You may be sure the blessing of 
the Lord did not follow him in any way. 
The business he had broken the Sabbath to 
get did not thrive ; he became so poor that 
he could not live in Manchester, and he went 
to London to look for work. He did very 
little better there. He earned but small 
wages, and he spent them foolishly ; he broke 
the Sabbath, never went near a church, and 



ROGER MILLER. 217 

cared little for his wife and his poor children. 
These children were running about little, 
narrow, vile London streets, never going to 
school, and were as dirty and ragged as 
children could well be. 

Here you must feel ready to despair of 
Roger Miller ; you think that he will die in 
a ditch. But no ; by God's pity he will be 
brought to repent of his sins and love and 
live for the Lord Jesus. Still, the conse- 
quences of his sins must go after him ; peo- 
ple must suffer for wrong-doing ; and I shall 
at once tell you of the punishment of Roger 
Miller. 

His two oldest children were named Thomas 
and Robert. Before their father became a 
good man these boys had grown quite large 
and had learned the worst ways of the city. 
When Roger wanted to have them do right 
he found they were set to do wrong. Both 
of them ran away to sea. Thomas was very 
wicked, and died in his sins. Robert after a 
time repented and gave his heart to God. 
He was wrecked and lost at sea. Thus in 
his two sons Roger Miller suffered for for- 
saking "the right way of the Lord." 



218 A TRUE HERO. 

I will now tell you how after some years of 
sin and sorrow Roger Miller was led into the 
paths of peace, out of which he had wandered. 
One Sunday morning he went off with some 
bad fellows. His wife was ill at home, but 
he left her and her babies to get on as well 
as they could alone. On the way to the 
river, where they meant to look for a boat, 
they met a very old lady. She was going to 
church, and was so old and feeble that she 
leaned on a cane to aid her slow steps. She 
looked kindly at the young men and handed 
them each a tract. Roger took his politely 
and looked at the title. It was an odd name : 
A Wonder in Three Worlds. When he went 
home at noon he read it through several 
times. The "wonder" was the death of the 
Son of God for man. In the evening Roger 
stole off alone to a church where a good 
man whom he knew went. He had not been 
in a church for years. Tears came in his 
eyes when he saw this great assembly, all 
bent on worshiping God. He said to him- 
self, " Do all these people seek the Lord whom 
I have forgotten ? Once I served him too, 
and sang the Saviour's praise. Now I am a 



ROGER MILLER. 219 

vile outcast, and my poor wife and children 
are going to ruin by my means." In his 
soul he began to cry, " Lord, be merciful to 
me a sinner !" The Lord always hears that 
prayer. The minister preached on this text : 
" You hath he quickened who were dead in 
trespasses and sins." He showed the great 
mercy of God, who does not cast off any who 
come to him. " Oh," said Roger, " why did 
I not remember those words, to take heed 
lest I fall? I forgot my God, and what a 
life I have led !" 

You know the beautiful story in the Bible 
—how the Prodigal Son, sick, hungry and far 
from home, says, " I will arise and go to my 
father," and how the father sees him far off 
and has compassion on him, and runs to fall 
on his neck. So now God had pity on Rog- 
er, and he went home that night to begin a 
new life. The first thing he did was to tell 
his wife and children of the great change 
in him. He said to them, " Now I will love 
you and work for you. You children shall 
all go to school every day, and to church 
and Sabbath-school on Sunday ; and you 
too, my wife, must go to church with me." 



220 A TRUE HERO. 

With tears and smiles all the family promised 
to do as he said. He left his bad comrades, 
worked well and hard, and was able to make 
his family comfortable. The poor wife took 
courage and kept her house and little ones in 
order, and before very long she too became a 
Christian. All the children did well but 
those two bad boys I told you of, and they 
were a grief and heartbreak to their parents — 
the more so that Roger Miller could not help 
seeing that their ruin was all his own fault, 
because he had not been a good father to 
them when they were small. 

Now Roger's love of missions and his pity 
for the sick and sinful returned, and he be- 
gan to spend his evenings and leisure hours 
in visiting those who were in trouble and 
want. He loved Christian work heartily, 
and he wanted to spend his time in doing 
the Lord's service. He had so much success 
that a society for the aid of the poor, called 
the " London City Mission," engaged him as 
one of its missionaries. Mrs. Miller was 
able now to help her husband in his work. 
They moved into a comfortable little home 
in that part of the city where Mr. Miller 



ROGER MILLER. 221 

was to work, and while they cared for their 
children at home all the poor about them 
were as their children and friends. Mr. 
Miller preached to the people on street-cor- 
ners on Sundays ; he got the sick taken into 
hospitals ; put the orphans in homes ; had 
day-school, night-school, Sabbath-school and 
grown people's school ; he had singing- 
classes ; he distributed tracts ; he found food 
for the hungry, work for the idle ; read the 
Bible from house to house ; and he and his 
wife had a class where the girls were taught 
to sew and the boys to be tailors and shoe- 
makers. Don't you think his hands were 
full of work ? All the poor people loved 
him dearly ; they called him their father, 
and came to him with all their wants. Every 
one said that in all London there was not 
such another able, kind, busy, wise and pious 
city missionary as good Roger Miller. 

One day he gave away five thousand five 
hundred tracts to a great crowd about a 
prison-door. He thought a great deal of 
tracts, because they speak the words of God ; 
and then, you know, one of them was the 
means of bringing Roger Miller himself 



222 A TRUE HERO. 

back to the service of God. As you may 
think, it needed a deal of courage to go 
among some of these people, who hated good- 
ness so much that they hated the missionary 
also, and often said they would kill him if 
he came near them. They would say this 
before they knew him. When once they 
found out his kind feelings to them they 
would not speak so. I will tell you one or 
two little stories of him to show you the life 
he led and how he was a true hero. There 
were three men living close together who 
always treated religious visitors very badly. 
These men said that if Mr. Miller came near 
them they would throw him into the street. 
Mr. Miller resolved to see them. He took 
some tracts and a Bible, and some pictures 
for the children, and went to their houses 
when the men were eating dinner. " Sir, I 
hope I do not interrupt you," he said to each, 
" but I want to get acquainted with you, and 
leave some little books for you to read when 
you are lonely. I want also to ask your 
children to my Sabbath-school." The men 
replied, " You needn't apologize ; we know 
your feelings are all right, and you are try- 



ROGER MILLER. 223 

ing to do good. Come and see us whenever 
you like." Thus, as the Bible says, " his en- 
emies were made to be at peace with him." 

There was another man who threatened if 
ever Mr. Miller came near him to kick him 
down stairs. Mr. Miller first got his chil- 
dren into school, where they learned to sing 
some nice hymns, and then coaxed the 
mother to go to church. The family im- 
proved much, and at last Mr. Miller went to 
see the angry father. The man at once rose 
and shook hands with him, saying, " I don't 
know how it is, but my children learn a deal 
at your school ; I would like to visit it. And 
my wife is much nicer than she used to be." 
So this man, who was called by the neigh- 
bors "the bear," became Roger's friend. I 
could tell you a hundred stories of this hero, 
who feared neither fevers nor other diseases, 
nor evil men, but, like Jesus, went about 
doing good. 

I will now only tell you how he died. His 
mother, whom he supported at Manchester, 
died, and he started to go to her funeral. He 
went on the cars, and some friends were with 
him. As evening came on they agreed to 



224 A TRUE HERO. 

close the day with devotion. One repeated a 
few verses of Scripture, another prayed, and 
then Roger Miller began to sing this verse : 

"Teach me to live that I may dread 
The grave as little as my bed ; 
Teach me to die, that so I may 
Rise glorious at the judgment-day ." 

Just as he sang this the train they were in 
by some accident crushed into another train, 
and by the collision seven passengers were 
killed on the spot. One of these was Roger 
Miller. He was taken up quite dead. His 
pockets were full of plans for his ragged 
schools and notices of church-meetings, with 
some letters asking help for his hospitals and 
asylum. He had indeed done with his might 
whatever his hand found to do, and had 
worked while the day lasted. 

"Blessed is that servant whom his Lord 
when he cometh shall find so doing." 



XI. 
THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY: 

THE STOEY OF HENEY LYMAN. 

15 



XI. 

THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY: 

THE STORY OF HENRY LYMAN. 



MY last story was about a missionary ; he 
was a missionary to the poor in the city 
of London. This story will be about a man 
who went to preach to the heathen far away 
on the island of Sumatra. He was a Yankee 
boy, born in Northampton, Massachusetts, 
and his name was Henry Lyman. Do you 
remember that I once wrote you the story of 
Mr. Brainerd, who was a missionary to the 
Indians in New Jersey? He was buried 
here at Northampton. Henry Lyman had 
pious parents, and a grandmother who loved 
God very truly and loved to tell the little 
children about her the story of a Saviour's 
grace. Though so well brought up, Henry 

227 



228 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

was not a wonderfully good boy; he was 
very idle, and, being a merry boy, got into 
mischief often because he thought only of 
being amused, and did not consider what the 
consequences of his pranks might be to him- 
self or others. He did not wish to go to 
college, and teased his father to let him be 
a clerk in a store or work on a farm. He 
hated study so very much that he some- 
times thought he would run away to sea. 
The reason he did not run off was that he 
loved his parents too well to break their 
hearts. He says he felt very angry because 
his father made him study, but yet for all 
that he loved him so much that he made up 
his mind to persevere for his sake. He also 
says : " God paid me a thousand times over 
for my obedience to my parents; all the 
happiness I have had I found growing up 
in the path of my duty. God gave me 
strength to obey, and God repaid me for 
that obedience." Henry knew how his pa- 
rents had prayed for him that he might be a 
child of God, and he expected God to hear 
their prayers and give him a new heart. 
Henry had a dear cousin Charles, who 



HENRY LYMAN. 229 

wrote to him and visited him quite often. 
Charles loved God, and he had a very good 
influence over Henry. A good example is 
worth more than silver and gold. When in 
college Henry was at first called one of the 
"wild boys," he was so full of frolic and 
nonsense. But before long the prayers of 
Henry's friends for him were answered. He 
was taken very ill and went home; they 
thought he would die, but he began to get 
better. Two things happened to him now. 
One night his elder sister was watching with 
him. He was asleep, and she knelt down 
and began to ask God to give him a new 
heart. She did not speak very loud, but 
Henry woke up, and in the stillness of the 
room heard her begging God to give him a 
new heart. A few days after it was Sabbath 
and the family went to church, and as Henry 
was much better they left him lying alone. 
It was a beautiful day, and as he lay listening 
to the birds chirping in the trees and to the 
sweet ringing of church-bells, all the world 
seemed to tell of the goodness and love of 
God, and to call him to worship the Creator 
in the days of his youth. 



230 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

When Henry got well and went back to 
college he gave his life to the Lord, who had 
" brought him back from the gates of death." 
The Bible tells us that when we love the 
Saviour old things pass away, and for us all 
things become new ; also, that if any man 
loves the Lord Jesus Christ he is a new crea- 
ture. Henry Lyman seemed a new man ; he 
was now all energy and industry, and full 
of desires to serve God. It was no longer 
a hard task for him to study : he knew he 
could use what he learned in Christ's ser- 
vice, and he loved study for the Lord's sake. 
He was one of those who have one chief 
wish in this world : that is, to serve God ; 
to this his "eyes looked right on." 

One day Lyman and a friend went to 
visit the grave of Mr. Brain erd. They sat 
down on the beautiful green grass and talked 
of that dear missionary. Henry said, " I 
have often felt as if I must be a missionary 
too ; I believe God wants me to go and tell 
the heathen of Jesus. It seems so hard that 
so many of the poor creatures should die 
without hearing of a Saviour's love !" Soon 
after this he wrote to his good cousin Charles 



HENRY LYMAN. 231 

for advice, and Charles told him to go to the 
heathen if he felt a love for that work. He 
wrote to his parents, and they were brave 
and said yes, they could even give up their 
dear eldest son to go far across the seas and 
preach in the name of Jesus. Before long 
Henry wrote to the Board of Missions, and 
offered to go and preach to the heathen when 
his studies were done. He said he would go 
wherever they would send him. 

He now had a dear friend, Mr. Munson, 
who was also to be a missionary. They were 
to go together, and the Board of Missions 
thought they would send them to the islands 
of Asia. These islands are very hot, but 
they are very beautiful; sweet spices and 
rich fruits grow there, and flowers more 
splendid than we have in lands where win- 
ter brings snow each year. But in these 
lovely lands people worship idols ; they are 
ignorant and cruel ; they do not know of 
Jesus who was born in Bethlehem. To 
these poor perishing souls Henry Lyman 
and Mr. Munson were to go. Of course 
their friends were sad at the thought of 
parting with these dear young men. 



232 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

Henry had ever so many little sisters and 
brothers, and when he went home for vaca- 
tion they had the merriest times; he was 
such a kind son and brother that he made 
his home very happy. Henry generally 
walked home from college, and the day he 
was to come some of his brothers would take 
the wagon to go and meet him. Then the lit- 
tle children left at home would climb on the 
gate-post and up the old apple tree by the 
roadside and watch and watch until the dear 
brother was in sight. Then how they would 
jump and shout and clap hands for joy ! 
The least child of all was sure to be picked 
up and have a ride on her brother's shoulder 
into the house. Can you guess how glad 
the father and mother were to have their 
son home with them ? Then what a good 
example he set at home ! — -always kind and 
cheerful, always ready to help. He weeded 
the flower-garden, made boxes and frames 
for the flowers, trained the vines and set out 
trees. The children saw how happy their 
parents looked when their dear son was 
home with them, and it made them anxious 
to be like him. When he was away he 



HENRY LYMAN. 233 

wrote them letters which helped them to be 
good. Sad enough were the children when 
these happy vacations came to an end. 
The big brother went fishing, nutting, ber- 
rying and skating with them. He dragged 
them about on their sleds and made them 
snow-men. Do you wonder that when he 
went away they missed him very much? 

At last Henry and his friend Munson were 
through their studies and were ready to go 
on their mission. They were each married, 
and their first home was to be at the city of 
Batavia, on the island of Java. For a whole 
year their friends had been getting together 
clothes, stores for housekeeping, books and 
all such needful things for the missionaries 
to take away with them. Henry and his 
wife were home at Mr. Lyman's for the last 
time. The children made Henry put on the 
white linen clothes made to wear in the hot 
country of Java ; they wanted to see how he 
would look; they thought a white hat and 
white shoes were very funny. 

It was June when they started from Boston 
for the far-off island. The voyage took 
them one hundred days. They had some 



234 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

storms and sickness, but, after all, it was a 
pleasant time. They made their little room 
on shipboard very neat, and had the books, 
pictures and other things that had been given 
them at home to help make the time pass 
cheerfully. By and by they were at Java ; 
and now I must tell you of the home they 
had in Batavia. 

They soon got a little house for themselves. 
The floors were of brick ; it had no fireplace, 
no chimney, no cellar and no garret. All 
the windows were in front. The walls were 
made of bamboo canes, and the roof was 
covered with large weeds called atap instead 
of shingles. There was no glass in the win- 
dows. They had iron bars across to keep 
thieves out, and wooden shutters to close 
when it stormed. There was a long veranda 
running all around the house, where it was 
pleasant to sit ; there was a hall which they 
used for a dining-room, and a bedroom on 
each side of it. They had also a little room 
for a study. They were four miles from the 
city, near a splendid park called the King's 
Plain. There were many splendid houses 
near, and the park was lovely to see. 



HENRY LYMAN. 235 

The island of Java is four hundred and 
twenty miles from the great peninsula of 
India. It is six hundred miles long and one 
hundred miles broad. Ivory, coffee, spices 
and fruits abound here. It has high moun- 
tains and fine valleys ; at some places, where 
there are marshes, it is unhealthy, but for the 
other part the climate is good. Here our mis- 
sionaries were to stay while they learned the 
language spoken in this part of the world, 
and also the ways of the people. The people 
of Java are quiet and pleasant, and are not 
so vicious as many heathen people. Mr. 
Lyman and his companion-missionary had 
studied medicine in Boston, and they opened 
an office where sick people could come for 
help. While they won the gratitude of the 
people by curing their sicknesses, they could 
be also talking to them about their souls and 
the worship of the true God. They found 
in Java a missionary from England named 
Medhurst, who was very kind to them and 
helped them a great deal. He was like a 
father to these young strangers in a strange 
land. 

Not long after they had reached Java 



236 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

there was a ship going to America, and Mr. 
Lyman sent some presents of curiosities from 
the country to his brothers and sisters. They 
were not worth much money, but they showed 
his loving heart and thought for his friends. 
I will tell you what he sent : some shells and 
the teeth of a shark ; two nutmegs just 
picked from the tree, for nutmegs grow in 
Java; a long pod of cotton, such as the 
natives stuff their beds and pillows with. 
He also sent a little idol, shaped like a fat, 
long-nosed old man, and lying in a small 
basket ; he wanted to show his brothers and 
sisters what silly things the poor heathen 
prayed to. Poor creatures! You know 
they had never learned that commandment, 
" Thou shalt have no other gods before me," 
nor that other one, "Thou shalt not bow 
down thyself to them nor serve them, for I 
the Lord thy God am a jealous God." No, 
they had never heard these words, and they 
bowed down to gods of wood and stone, which 
" having eyes see not; having ears hear not," 
nor can understand anything. No wonder 
that Henry Lyman was sorry for them. Be- 
sides these gifts he sent his little sister a tiny 



HENRY LYMAN. 237 

wagon made of palm leaves : it was like the 
carts the native people ride in. 

The missionaries were very happy and 
well in their new home; they were not to 
have it very long, but they did not know 
that. They just trusted in the Lord, and 
lived for him every day as it came. That is 
a good way to live ; if we all took that way 
there would not be as much fretting. They 
found very good English friends in this 
island — a doctor who was very kind to them 
— and the captains of vessels which stopped 
there were very friendly ; they used to bring 
the missionaries presents of things brought 
from America, as hams, butter and apples; 
these looked like the dear land they had left 
for ever. 

Mr. Lyman loved to go on board the 
ships and preach to the sailors in English ; 
it seemed nice, so far from home, to find 
those who understood and used the language 
of his own country. The missionaries had 
enough to do — learning the language, help- 
ing the sick, visiting the poor, preaching 
to all who could understand them, writing 
letters home and teaching in the schools. 



238 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

The ladies taught the heathen girls sewing 
and housework when they could get anybody 
to learn. Mr. Lyman wrote home long 
accounts of the customs and ways of the 
Malay people. They are gentle in their 
manners and have sweet voices for singing ; 
they love to learn and are kind to strangers. 
They eat with their fingers and sit on mats 
on the ground. They are very fond of nice 
things to eat. At one house where Mr. 
Lyman was asked to tea they all sat on the 
ground around a table a few inches high ; 
there were no knives, forks or spoons ; a ser- 
vant came and poured water over their hands 
and gave them a towel. Then they had 
seven kinds of preserves, with tea, cake and 
fruit, set before them. In this country they 
eat their dessert first. Is not that an odd 
fashion ? I should think it would spoil their 
appetites, shouldn't you ? After this fine 
dessert came the dinner, and they had seven- 
teen different kinds of food. I suppose they 
did not eat very much of any kind. After 
all were through the meal the servant came 
around again with water and towels, that they 
might wash and wipe their hands; and I 



HENHY LYMAN. 239 

should think it was very necessary, for they 
had been eating all this big feast with their 
fingers — in such a way that if any of you 
little people tried it your careful mammas 
would dismiss you from the table ; and serve 
you very right too ! However, as you may 
see, they have different fashions in different 
countries, and if the Malays had no faults 
but eating with their fingers, we would not 
be obliged to send missionaries to them. The 
trouble with them is that they "know not 
God, neither his Son Jesus Christ j" and that 
is a very sad trouble, truly. 

Once in a while the missionaries would 
take long rides over the island to see villages 
where the people, through the teaching of 
the Dutch and English missionaries, had be- 
come Christians, It was such a lovely sight 
to see the once heathen people bringing their 
babies to be baptized and to hear the children 
in school saying their lessons and singing 
hymns ! Sometimes missionaries from the 
islands about Java would come to visit thern 
and tell how their work was getting on. The 
life of a missionary, like all other lives, has 
in it both pleasure and pain. No one can 



240 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

live in this world without trouble; if we 
could, I suppose we should never want to go 
out of it, even to get to heaven. Yet amid 
all the trouble and care the dear Lord sends 
all of us much to enjoy. 

After six months in Java, Mr. Lyman and 
Mr. Munson were to leave home for a journey 
through the islands near, especially to the 
island of Sumatra. They were to preach 
where they could, and they were to look out 
for those places where missionaries should 
be sent and schools could be opened. They 
were to be gone six months, and in the mean 
time the ladies and Mr. Munson's little boy- 
baby were to stay in their house on the 
King's Plain. The day they started was 
Monday ; on Sunday evening they had 
service at their little chapel, and the baby 
boy was baptized by his father's name. 
This was a sad parting ; six months looked 
such a long, long while to be away from the 
dear home. But all these sacrifices must be 
made for the Lord's sake. The missionaries 
left their wives in the care of the good 
friends they had made at Batavia, and sail- 
ed away for Sumatra. 



HENRY LYMAN. 241 

Sumatra is full of Malays ; most of them 
are pirates, but on shore they are generally 
kind and quiet. The island is divided into 
three or four small kingdoms, and one of 
these is called Batta Land. The island of 
Sumatra is very beautiful; the breezes that 
blow from it are full of the perfumes of 
flowers and spices. A great deal of pepper 
grows there, and many ships visit the island 
to get loads of it. The Dutch have some 
villages and trading-houses along the coast. 
The missionaries sailed in a Dutch vessel 
for Padang. The trip was not a very long 
one, but owing to storms they were two 
weeks on the sea. They found the people 
along the coast kind and ready to hear 
them preach; some of them could read, 
and were quite glad to get books and tracts 
in their own language. They found some 
Dutch missionaries, and learned from them 
that the people in the central part of Su- 
matra were very fierce, always at war, hated 
all white folks, and were as ready to kill 
men as birds. They were told that Batta 
Land was full of people; one person said 
the Battas stood as thick as trees. Now 

16 



242 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

Mr. Lyman felt as if he were truly on 
missionary ground and had begun his work. 
Before this he had been where there were 
many Christians and comforts, but now he 
was entering wild lands where were only 
savages. 

If Mr. Lyman and Mr. Munson had been 
older missionaries, and had known more of 
the Batta people, and of the wars that were 
then raging among them, and of the dangers 
of going there just at that time, perhaps 
they would have waited a while, until a 
time came when there was more chance of 
doing the Battas good. As it was, they 
thought only of doing their duty and of 
saving souls; duty then seemed to be to 
go right on in this wild land to persuade 
the people to have teachers and to tell them 
of Jesus the Prince of peace. Very often 
Henry Lyman longed to be back in pleasant 
Batavia, but he had work to do where he 
was, and he meant to do it like a Christian 
man. 

The people of Sumatra drank a great 
deal of liquor; and let me tell you what 
they called their wine and brandy. They 



HENRY LYMAN. 243 

called it pakor, which means "nail," and 
they called it nail because they said that 
every glass of it which a man drank drove 
one more nail in his coffin ; and though 
this dreadful name all the time reminded 
them what a horrid poison it was, they kept 
on drinking, morning, noon and night. 
You could hear them shouting, " Bring me 
the white nail !" " Bring me the red nail I" 
But even here they have felt the good effects 
of the American Temperance Society, and 
some of the richest and wisest people in 
Sumatra, who know what is going on in 
other lands, have made up their minds not 
to drive any more of these awful nails into 
their own coffins, and now set the example 
of being sober. 

The missionaries were warned that they 
had better keep away from noisy Batta 
Land just then; war was going on, and 
the poor savages did not hold any life valu- 
able or know the difference between their 
friends and their foes. Still, they went on, 
hoping to be of use, and thinking no one 
would harm them when they were so peace- 
able and carried no weapons. They did not 



244 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

yet feel how wicked heathenism makes men. 
They were not enemies, but friends, and 
they hoped the Battas would receive them 
as such. 

But, alas! a terrible thing happened. 
They reached a village called Sacca, and 
stopped to rest over Sunday. They had 
just read that verse, "The Lord of hosts 
is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge," 
and that other one, " We are more than con- 
querors through Him that loved us." They 
thought of home and friends, and prayed for 
them ; then they sang a hymn. Suddenly 
from the woods rushed two hundred armed 
Battas, waving clubs and guns and spears. 
Mr. Lyman held up his hands to speak, 
and threw them the hats of his company 
and some tobacco to show their good-will. 
Then he gave them the only gun that was 
in the party. Still the savages pressed on, 
shouting so loud that they could not hear 
one word the missionaries said. They shot 
Henry Lyman and killed Mr. Munson with 
a sword ; then they cut off the head of a 
servant who was with them. 

In one moment it was over; the good 



HENRY LYMAN. 245 

missionaries were gone. Just as they had 
fairly begun their work they were ruthlessly 
killed. Henry Lyman was only twenty- 
four. Oh what a sad loss to the poor wives, 
to the friends at home, to the Church, and 
also to the poor Batta people, who had killed 
their best friends ! How sweet it is to know 
that there is a home in heaven where God's 
dear children " rest from their labors, and 
their works do follow them " ! 

With regard to the missionaries them- 
selves, the case was stripped of much of its 
gloom. Their habitual preparations for eter- 
nity, their known love to the Saviour and 
their evident interest in the new covenant, 
made death to them a sudden glory, and 
the hurried manner of this end only a 
more rapid translation from labors, travails, 
sufferings and care to a state of perfect, 
complete and everlasting rest. We might 
think that it was a pity that they were not 
spared to render the Saviour much service 
in the vineyard on earth. But he doubtless 
designed them for higher and holier service 
before the throne above. And with regard 
to the mission itself, they will not be found, 



246 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

in the great day of account, to have rendered 
it a partial or an inferior service. The sol- 
dier who falls in the forlorn hope, at the 
storming of a citadel, has as much share in 
the glory of the conquest as he that di- 
videth the spoil. When the list of worthies 
is made out, those may stand among the 
first who nobly dared and cheerfully gave 
their lives in the good cause. 

The names of these devoted missionaries 
of the cross have passed into the history of 
missions and of the Church, and are still 
dear to all who love the Lord Jesus and 
desire the final triumph of his kingdom. 
The fall of such men by the hand of vio- 
lence has not prevented others from filling 
up the vacant places. Nor ought such prov- 
idences to deter the youth of our land from 
entering upon like work. The command 
" Go ye " still stands in the sacred record. 
He who gave the command still lives and 
reigns. He has power sufficient to turn the 
tide in favor of his cause. And the sure 
word of prophecy assures us all opposition 
will in the end prove vain, that the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against his Church. 



HENRY LYMAN. 247 

Soon the kingdoms of this world shall be- 
come the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
Christ, and he shall rule over all. 

I will now add to this account of these 
noble men a short extract from a letter 
written by them to the Missionary Board 
in this country just after they started on 
their last voyage of exploration : 

"The Lord alone knoweth the future. 
In him we trust. We weighed anchor at 
Batavia on Tuesday morning at seven 
o'clock — just the time, allowing for the 
difference of longitude, that you were as- 
sembled for the monthly concert. We trust 
the Lord heard your prayers. But we can- 
not close without inquiring, Are there men 
preparing to come over and help us? No 
doubt exists but this people are ready for 
the reception of the gospel. Send men and 
Bibles, and pray for the descent of the 
Holy Spirit, and ere long these great mul- 
titudes of people, with their written lan- 
guage and bamboo books, may be reading 
the word of God and sitting at the feet of 
Jesus. But send men full of faith and the 
Holy Spirit; for if they once come among 



248 THE SUMATRA MISSIONARY. 

these islands we can assure them they need 
look for no rest till they find it in heaven." 

Will not my young readers seek for some- 
thing of the spirit of self-sacrifice and de- 
votion to Christ that filled the souls of 
these men, "of whom the world was not 
worthy"? 



XII. 

THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE 
THE STORY OF REV. JONAS KING. 




Rev. Jonas King, D.D., in Oriental Costume. 

Page 251. 



XII. 

THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

THE STORY OF REV. JONAS KING. 



I HAVE told you children about very 
many good and great men — men whose 
examples should make you love goodness 
and encourage you to persevere in doing 
right, even though you may have very hard 
times and have much to discourage you. 
Some people talk as if they thought little 
children have no troubles, but I think they 
have. It is very trying to think you are 
doing just right, and find you have made a 
mistake, and to be suddenly reproved as if 
you were the worst child in the world. 
Some little people have also other troubles. 
It is hard to be very poor, and hard not to 
be able to go to school and learn all that you 

251 



252 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

want to. This story is to be about a boy who 
succeeded in becoming wise and good because 
he persevered. He made up his mind as to 
what he wanted, and then he worked hard 
until he got it. Like the last story I wrote 
for you, this is a missionary story. 

There are men who have gone over all the 
world, not to see great cities and lovely pic- 
tures, not to visit kings and grand people, not 
to eat, drink and be merry, but to take the 
gospel of Jesus to dying souls; to hold up 
the light of the Bible for those who are in 
darkness, to make savages gentle and peace- 
able ; to teach parents to take care of their 
children, and children to honor their parents. 
These men, wherever they have gone, have 
done a work which angels watch with joy ; 
they have carried with them the hopes of 
heaven, and when they have died they have 
left the world the better for their living in it. 
One of these missionaries was Jonas King. 
He was born at a town called Hawley, in 
the western part of the State of Massachu- 
setts. His parents were honest, hard-work- 
ing people ; they were too poor to do very 
much for their children, of whom there were 



REV. JONAS KING. 253 

a good many. These parents taught their 
son to work faithfully at whatever business 
he had, to speak the truth and not to waste 
his time. From being so poor he learned to 
endure hardships, and not to care so much 
for play as those little children who do not 
have to work for a living. Jonas went to 
the district school some, but not much, be- 
cause he had to be working for the farmers 
around, as his family needed the few pennies 
he could earn. He ran errands, planted and 
dug potatoes, drove the cows to the field, kept 
the crows out of the corn, led the horses to 
water, etc. 

Thus matters went on until he was fifteen 
years old ; he was now a strong, rough-look- 
ing lad, and I suppose the folks about him 
thought he wanted nothing but to be a farm- 
laborer all the days of his life. When one 
learns the alphabet he has the key of all 
knowledge in his hand. Jonas had learned 
to read. This sunburnt, barefooted boy 
felt that there were wonderful treasures of 
wisdom which he could unlock with the al- 
phabet. He wanted to study, to be a teacher 
himself some day. He had picked up stray 



254 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

books and papers, and he knew there were 
very wonderful things in the world if he 
only could find out about them. He had no 
one to help him or tell him what to do. It 
was now cold weather, the fall work was 
done — the crops were in the barns, the fruit 
was gathered, the farmers' boys were all going 
to winter school. Jonas heard that seven 
miles from Hawley, in the village of Plain- 
field, there was a schoolmaster named May- 
nard who was very anxious to have his pu- 
pils learn, and who talked much to the boys 
about getting an education. Jonas heard 
that Mr. Maynard had said that any boy 
could become a wise man who really desired 
it. He said to himself, " I desire it ; let me 
see if I can be a wise man. I will go and 
talk with Mr. Maynard." 

One frosty morning he rose early and set 
out on his seven-miles walk to visit the 
schoolmaster at Plainfield. He tied his red 
woolen scarf about his neck and thrust his 
hands in his pockets to keep them warm, and 
off he trudged bravely. The wind blew in 
his face sharply, the snow lay on the ground, 
but he walked fast to keep himself warm, 



REV. JONAS KING. 255 

and before school-time he reached the little 
log school-house at Plainfield. The chil- 
dren were standing about the yard and in 
the school-room. They all looked curiously 
at the strange boy. " Who is it ?" they 
whispered among themselves. One boy said, 
" I know ; his name is Jonas, and he works 
over in Hawley. What do you think he 
wants here ?" Nobody could tell, and they 
all stared the harder. 

By and by Mr. Maynard came in, and he 
saw the new boy sitting behind the stove get- 
ting warm. He walked up and shook hands 
with the stranger, asking pleasantly, " What 
is your name, lad ?" 

" It is Jonas King, sir." 

"And what do you want, my lad? Do 
you live near here ?" 

" No, sir ; I live seven miles off, in Hawley. 
What I want is to get an education. I'm 
fifteen years old, sir, and I have no time to 
lose. I must begin right away." 

" Very good, my boy ; and how much do 
you know now?" 

" Well, I can read and write, and cipher 
some, sir." 



256 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

" Have you any friends who are able to 
help you?" 

Jonas shook his head. 

" And are not your parents able to do any- 
thing for you ?" 

" No, sir/' replied Jonas. " If I can get 
them to let me have my time, that is all I can 
look for ; they are very poor indeed." 

" How, then, my son, do you expect to 
support yourself and get an education ?" 
asked Mr. Maynard. 

" I'm going to try with all my might, and 
work like anything," replied Jonas sturdily. 
" I came here because I thought you could 
tell me how to set about it. I don't know 
where I ought to go or what I should study 
first. Can't you tell me something, Mr. 
Maynard ?" 

Yes, Mr. Maynard said he would help 
him. He advised Jonas to stay there in 
school that day, and study with the other 
boys, and by evening he would see what 
he could do for him. So he gave him some 
books, and then school began. 

Mr. Maynard says that he did not find 
Jonas King remarkably bright or intelligent, 



REV. JONAS KING. 257 

but he found out at once that he was indus- 
trious and persevering. This is better than 
to be smart. Get some one to tell you the 
story of the Hare and the Tortoise, and then 
you will understand what I mean by this. 

Mr. Maynard especially noticed the calm, 
earnest manner with which Jonas King met 
difficulties which would have made most 
boys or men faint-hearted. With no books, 
no money to pay his board, no stock of 
warm clothes, here in the beginning of 
winter he was ready to undertake to sup- 
port himself through years of study. Mr. 
Maynard said, "This boy will succeed, be- 
cause he makes up his mind and then goes 
right on." 

At noon Mr. Maynard went home to his 
boarding-house and told there the story of 
Jonas King. The master of the house said 
he came of an honest family, and after a 
little talk concluded to give Jonas his board 
during the winter for the work he could do 
out of school-hours. This was a grand 
thing for Jonas, for he could study in the 
evening, and Mr. Maynard would be right 
there in the house to help him. 

17 



258 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

After school Mr. Maynard told Jonas 
what he had done for him, and Jonas was 
very thankful. The teacher said he could 
find him enough books that some of the 
richer boys were done with. Jonas had 
hard work to do, but he was willing to do 
it. He made fires, cut the wood, milked 
the cows, brought water, helped the servant- 
woman in many ways, and was always ready 
cheerfully to do errands for any one. Every- 
body liked him because he was so faithful. 
He made himself respected by his good con- 
duct. People said, " That Jonas King will 
make a man of himself in spite of every 
difficulty." Such a boy could always get 
work. He rose early and worked rapidly, 
and often had some hours to spare on Satur- 
day, when the people he boarded with did 
not need him, and then he would get work 
at corn-husking and wood-sawing among 
the neighbors, and thus he was able to earn 
his clothes. 

The minister at Plainfield soon took a 
great interest in Jonas. The boy was reg- 
ularly at church and Sabbath-school, and 
gave attention to all that was said. A lad 



REV. JONAS KING. 259 

cannot do better than make a friend of his 
minister; and this is what Jonas did. 

In the spring, kind Mr. Maynard left 
Plainfield. Mr. Hallock, the minister, then 
said Jonas should come and live with him, 
work for him in house and garden, and 
study with him until he was ready for 
college. Jonas was very thankful for this 
offer. Mr. Hallock was a dear old gentle- 
man; he loved to teach boys, and at different 
times he had a great many under his care. 
The young men would come to Plainfield 
and board, study with the old pastor until 
they were ready for college, and then, with 
his blessing and prayers, would go off to- 
gether to college. One of these students 
was Jonas King. Perhaps no one of the 
pupils of Mr. Hallock was more steady and 
persevering than this young man, who was 
to become a great blessing to the world. 
Jonas was nineteen when he entered college, 
and he was there four years. The president 
and professors loved him very much for his 
sound Christian principles, his amiable man- 
ners and his humble, industrious habits. 
From college Jonas King went to the theo- 



260 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

logical seminary; and I must tell you that 
of the class he belonged to six were mission- 
aries. There was a good deal of missionary 
spirit in that class ; don't you think so ? 
While here, and for two years afterward, 
Jonas King showed a great genius for learn- 
ing the languages of the East — of the land 
where Jesus lived, and the country of the 
Arabs, and of India. There are many 
books in these languages, and the Bible 
was first written in Hebrew and in Greek ; 
so people learn these tongues still. Mr. 
King was invited to go to a new college and 
teach these languages. Being a very modest 
man, he said that he did not feel that he 
knew quite enough to teach these studies 
yet, and he would like to go to France and 
learn a little more. He had now some very 
rich friends who had learned to care very 
much for him, and they approved so highly 
of his going to France that they gave him 
all the money he needed. He went to the 
city of Paris, and began to study with all 
his might. He had not been there long 
when he heard of the death of a missionary 
named Parsons, who had gone to Palestine 



REV. JONAS KING. 261 

to preach the gospel. Mr. Parsons had 
gone out with a Mr. Fisk, and now Mr. 
Fisk was in great need of some other mis- 
sionary to come out and help him — some 
one who could speak Arabic and travel 
about with him to establish churches and 
schools. 

Some friends wrote to Mr. Fisk about 
Jonas King, then in Paris, saying that they 
thought he would be just the right man, and 
that as Mr. King loved to do good and had 
often spoken of being a missionary, they 
thought he could be persuaded to go to 
Palestine. Mr. Fisk wrote right away to 
Jonas King, begging him to come and help 
him. He told how sad and lonely it was 
for him without his dear friend and helper, 
and how terrible to see heathen in the lovely 
land where David had written the Psalms, 
Elijah had gone to heaven in a whirlwind 
with a chariot of fire, John the Baptist had 
preached, Stephen had been killed, and the 
Saviour of the world had been born and 
lived, died and risen again, and gone up 
into heaven. Who would not love and 
pity this land? Would not Mr. King go 



262 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

at once to work where Christ and his apos- 
tles had labored years ago? 

Yes, the heart of Jonas King was ready 
for this work. He called together his friends 
and laid the case before them. They told 
him to go, and promised money for the mis- 
sion so long as he should be there. Some of 
his friends said, " Traveling in the East is 
not very safe, and the climate is bad for 
strangers; you may lose your life going 
there." He replied — and it was a noble 
answer—" All about me here in Paris I see 
soldiers who are ready to go anywhere, into 
any danger, and fight for the king of France. 
I see soldiers in the streets and hospitals who 
have lost an arm, an eye or a leg fighting 
for a little earthly glory, and shall I hesitate 
to go out and risk my life in the service of 
the Prince of peace, who will give me a 
crown of immortal life when my work on 
earth is done?" 

Mr. King had a very delightful journey 
through France. He sailed from Marseilles 
on a beautiful October day. He reached the 
island of Malta in a few days, and there he 
found Mr. Fisk waiting for him. They 



REV. JONAS KING. 263 

next sailed to Alexandria, a city in Egypt ; 
going here, they passed the delightful land 
of Greece, where Mr. King was to spend 
many useful and happy years ; people are 
generally happy when they are doing good. 
Our missionaries were in Egypt three months. 
You may know how busy they were if I tell 
you that they distributed nine hundred Bibles 
three thousand tracts printed in twelve differ- 
ent languages, and along with another mis- 
sionary, named Wolff, they preached the gos- 
pel speaking in seven different languages. 
This was doing a good deal of work ; don't 
you think so? That is the kind of men 
w r e have for missionaries. I hope you will 
always love and respect them, and do all 
you can to help them in their grand, good 
work. 

Now they were to cross the desert to go to 
Palestine, the land called Canaan in the Bi- 
ble. How many stories you have read about 
it ! Here David killed Goliath ; here the 
walls of Jericho fell down ; here lived Sam- 
son the strong and Solomon the wise. Oh, 
what a wonderful old land it is ! The desert 
is a trying place to travel over ; it is hot like 



264 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

an oven ; the winds are almost as if they blew 
to you off from a fire ; then water is very 
scarce, and it has to be carried in leather 
bottles, because there are no wells to stop at 
for a drink; the leather makes the water 
dark and ill-tasted and warm ; I know you 
wouldn't like to drink it. Mr. King and 
Mr. Fisk traveled on camels; did you ever 
see a camel ? They got quite out of water, 
and had a deal of trouble. 

I will tell you how they spent one evening 
of the journey. When they stopped for the 
night they unloaded the camels and set up 
their tents. Then they had some supper. 
Many people were traveling with them. 
One was a Persian named Mohammed ; he 
was quite a wise man, and was called a 
dervish. After supper the missionaries took 
some Bibles in Persian and Arabic and went 
to him to read them, so that they might learn 
the languages better. They carried a square 
piece of carpet, and laid it on the sand near 
the dervish. Then they began to read to 
him, and very many of the other travelers 
came around and sat down to listen. When 
they heard some chapters from Genesis, the 



REV. JONAS KING. 265 

first book in the Bible, read, they said it was 
very good. Another cried out, " No, it is 
not good ; it is an infidel book*" Pretty 
soon one of the servants, named Elias, be- 
came very angry with his mother, who was 
cooking his supper. He struck her ! What 
a wicked man, to do this ! Mr. Wolff went 
to him and reproved him. Some of the 
Arabs cried out, " Let him alone ; he is bad 
because he is a Christian" They hate 
Christians. Mr. Wolff made Elias ashamed 
of his ill-conduct. He went to his mother, 
took her hand and kissed it, and said he 
would never strike her again. Before long 
two Turks began to fight, and the mission- 
aries had to stop them ; and soon after a 
Persian got very angry with a poor little 
donkey, and began, like Balaam, to beat him, 
ending by calling the poor beast a Jew. 
Thus you see these people are very quarrel- 
some, and hate Jews and Christians and 
everybody but themselves. How much they 
need to learn of the principles of that pure 
religion which comes from above, the peace- 
able religion ! 

Mr. King was in Palestine three years. 



266 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

He was much interested in the Armenian 
people, and when he reached France on his 
way home he got them a printing-press and 
some types and sent them to Palestine, so 
that books in their own language could be 
provided for them. 

Mr. King was only in America a year, 
and during that time he was busy collecting 
money for missions. Then he was invited 
to go to the land of Greece. A ship was to 
be sent there with food, clothing, books and 
such things, because the people there were 
in great trouble from a war. Mr. King was 
asked to go out in one of these supply-ships 
and live in Greece as a missionary. He was 
to teach schools there, and preach, and dis- 
tribute Bibles, and have books and papers 
printed in Greek, and he was to be as far as 
he could the friend and helper of all the un- 
happy Greek people, who had been very 
sadly used by the cruel Turks. Mr. King 
said he would go gladly. Accordingly he 
went to the city of Athens. St. Paul once 
preached in Athens ; it is one of the grand- 
est old cities in the world. The people are 
very fond of learning, and Mr. King had a 



REV. JONAS KINO. 267 

high school there for a number of years. 
He had great influence over the Greeks, 
and the country will ever be freer, wiser 
and happier for the life in it of this good 
man. 

When he went to Greece, Mr. King was 
young, thirty-five years old— just at the 
best and strongest part of his life. To 
Greece he gave his strength, his time, his 
wisdom, his love, his prayers, until he was 
old and gray and ready to die. He was 
not without enemies ; the Turks and many 
of the Greeks who are not Christians and 
hate religion were angry with him. They 
accused him in the papers of trying to make 
trouble in the country. A man once at- 
tacked him on the public street of Athens 
and tried to kill him, but a soldier was in 
sight, who ran up, saved his life and carried 
off the man to prison. His enemies had 
Mr. King arrested and tried in the courts 
on the charge of trying to disturb the 
country and teach evil doctrines, but when 
they came to court they could prove noth- 
ing but that he was a noble friend of the 
country, a wise teacher, kind to the poor, 



268 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

and setting an example of a quiet Christian 
life. For all this there was much hard 
feeling toward him. When he was to be 
tried before the court at Syra the foes of 
the gospel said they would get their way at 
last and he should be put in prison at Syra ; 
that would stop his preaching for a while. 
Some friends went to Mr. King's wife and 
told her that they thought if he went to 
Syra the people would rise up and stone 
him and try to kill him. You know how 
Paul the apostle was stoned by his enemies. 
But God took care of Paul, and so he took 
care of his servant Jonas King. Mr. King 
told his wife not to be afraid; the hand of 
the Lord would be with him to protect him, 
and give him a victory over his enemies. 
And so it was. You know the Lord cares 
" for those who trust in him before the sons 
of men." As the hymn says, 

" He makes their cause his care." 

Mr. King lived to see the hatred toward 
him die out like a fire that has no fuel in it. 
He lived to see many of the Greek people 
regarding him as their best friend and 



REV. JONAS KING. 269 

helper, and many young men whom he 
had taught growing up to take his place as 
preachers and teachers of the Greek nation. 
He wrote a number of books for the Greeks, 
and his fame as a scholar and as a Christian 
minister was great. I don't suppose that 
Mr. Maynard thought that cold winter 
morning, when the boy came to him at 
Plainfield school, what a learned and good 
man he would grow up to be. If a boy 
with so little help, no money and few friends 
could succeed in obtaining an education and 
reaching a place of such usefulness in the 
world, I don't think any boy or girl need 
give up in despair. You cannot become 
wise, great or good just by wishing. You 
must wish so hard that it sets you to work- 
ing. Ask God's blessing and do your best. 
As the Bible says, " Commit thy way unto 
the Lord, and verily he shall bring it to 
pass." 

Now, here I end the last story of another 
volume of "True Stories." I know you 
little people like true stories better than 
" make-up." " Make-ups " are all very 



270 THE BOY WHO WOULD BE WISE. 

well, but when you want really to learn 
something you ask for a true story, don't 
you? I hope you have liked the stories 
I have told you, and that they will do you 
a great deal of good. 



THE END. 



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